Night Fire
by Chas1881
Summary: The sequel to A Spark in the Darkness, this story picks up right where all of the action left off. Still prominently featuring Sun, but with other RWBY characters and OC's playing lead in some sections. Pairings supported in this story: Bumblebee, White Rose, Arkos, Noren. Rated T because anything can happen. All events that will be shown in Volume Two don't happen in this story.
1. Chapter 1: Escape

******Pre-Chapter Author's Note:**  
**I would like to thank al of you in advance for the support and patience you have exhibited over the past month that I have been away. I would also like to clarify that this story is a sequel to A Spark in the Darkness. This means that if you have not read ASITD yet, you should because none of the OC's or plot lines will make any sense. You didn't come here to listen to me babble on, so let the chapter commence.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Escape**

**The streets of Vale, one week after the rescue of Weiss.**

He had to run, the sirens were close behind him. They were after him, trying to get back the dust crystal he had stolen just minutes ago. He rounded a corner and slammed into someone, bringing them both tumbling to the ground.

"Salutations!" The person he had just hit said as he stood up.

"Uh, hello, sorry for running into you." He hastily replied, glancing back to see how close the police were behind him.

"It's fine, no problem has arisen." The girl, he could now tell the gender, said with a creepy look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I need to go. Bye!" He waved and continued running, only to slide to a stop to avoid running into the same girl again.

"Why the hurry?" She asked, leaning close to him.

"The cops are after me." He said impatiently, trying to step around her.

"But why?" She moved, blocking his path forward.

"I stole something I shouldn't have and they want it back."

"Stealing is bad, you should return it."

"I have to steal it, my family is barely living."

"That doesn't matter, you should still give it back."

"Listen, I don't know who you are-"

"My name's Penny."

"Okay, Penny then. But I need to provide for my family, and- You know what? Never mind." He finally activated his Semblance and Penny gasped, he had vanished before her eyes.

"Where did you go?" She asked, looking around.

"Goodbye." He reappeared behind her, and started running away again.

Luckily for him, Penny was too much in shock to keep up with him. He continued his escape, finally disappearing into the intricate maze of the city.

* * *

**Professor Ozpin's Office in Beacon Academy.**

"What do you mean, she escaped?" Ozpin was deathly calm, staring daggers at the second-year student standing before him.

"I went to check on her five minutes ago and she wasn't there, her ASH was on the ground but the rest of the room was fine." The student replied nervously, knowing that an angry Ozpin was not good for his welfare.

"Don't you have security footage of that room?"

"Yes, but it glitched out last night and we haven't been able to fix it."

Ozpin turned away for a second, massaging his temples.

"Okay," He said as he turned back. "Check any tapes from this morning and make sure nothing else is missing."

"From the room?"

"From anywhere, you are dismissed."

The student made his way towards the door, only to run into a frantic Blake.

"I need to speak to Ozpin." She said.

* * *

**Team RWBY's room, ten minutes earlier.**

Blake opened her eyes, she was sure she had heard a noise.

'There it is again.' She thought to herself, hearing the creak of her door opening. 'What could that mean?'

Blake slowly rolled to her side, so that she could face the rest of the room. The creaking stopped but, after a moment, resumed again.

'Someone is coming in, but who could it be this early in the morning?' Blake asked herself, taking the opportunity to check the clock in the middle of the room.

4:12 AM, it read.

She slipped out of bed and hid beside Weiss', content to let the intruder believe that the sleeping form of Yang on her bed was her.

Slowly but surely, a shadow moved across the room. It stopped in front of Yang, and slowly reached for her.

"What the?" Vayla cried as she was seized from behind.

"How did you get out?" Blake asked, holding the other girl in a headlock.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Blake?" A sleepy voice asked. "What's going on?"

"Nothing Yang." Vayla crooned, earning her a sharp jab in the back.

"Yang," Blake started calmly. "Vayla is here, I have her in a headlock, can you wake up please?"

"Okay, good ni- wait, what?" Yang jumped from her bed and found a very confused Blake sitting on the ground in a cloud of purple smoke. "What happened?"

"She… Vayla was here just a second ago." Blake replied, looking around the room.

"How did she escape in the first place? And how did she get out of your headlock?"

"I don't know, and I assume she used her semblance. I forgot all about that."

"It's okay, you're fine now." Yang moved over to hug her girlfriend.

"Blake? Yang? What's going on?" Ruby yawned and looked over the edge of her bed.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." Yang replied instinctively.

"Okay." Ruby disappeared back over the edge and settled back in her bed.

"You had better go tell Ozpin." Yang said to Blake, motioning towards the door.

* * *

"I need to speak to Ozpin." Blake burst through the door.

"And why would that be?" Ozpin looked at Blake, who looked quite distressed.

"Judging from your face, I would say you have already heard Vayla has escaped."

"I have, but how would you know?"

"She tried to sneak into my room."

"Tried?"

"I was able to stop her before doing too much damage."

"Why do you think she went to your room?"

"She might have been trying to kidnap me while I was sleeping."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow and Blake hastily elaborated.

"Remember, when Weiss was stolen Vayla's final objective was to get me."

"Really? I was not informed of this."

"Weiss told me a couple days ago."

"Interesting, did she tell you anything else that I should know about?"

"Not that I can think of, sir."

"Alright then, you are dismissed."

* * *

"How?" Sun was pacing back and forth in his team's room, alone except for one other person.

"Still no info on that yet, but we believe that she was able to use her Semblance to escape." Lance, a member of Team BOLT, replied.

"But she had the ASH on, unless she found a way to take it off."

"We aren't sure, but evidence suggests that she was still in the helmet when she teleported."

"But that would mean she would have had no aura to teleport with."

"Like I said, we have no real clue as to how she had enough aura to teleport."

"Promise me something."

"Okay."

"You tell me anything you find out about Vayla in general, clear?"

"Absolutely, you can count on me personally."

"Good, thank you for bringing me everything you have so far."

"My pleasure, enjoy the rest of your day." Lance slipped out, not catching the final words from Sun.

"Not with this lunatic on the loose." Sun muttered, then followed Lance out the door.

Sun made his way towards the cafeteria, intent on catching a quick breakfast before Professor Kipmud's Aura Usage Class today. As he pushed through the doors, he saw Colton and Krystal sitting at a table with Team RWBY. He made his way through the food line, grabbing a handful of random bananas only.

"Good morning." He solemnly said as he sat down.

"Morning!" The rest of the table replied enthusiastically.

"I'm assuming everyone heard the news?" He asked, looking around at the other occupants of the table.

Blake and Yang both looked at each other and nodded at Sun.

"No, what?" Krystal replied.

"Vayla escaped from her cell today."

Krystal spewed out her Fiji and Colton burst out in nervous laughter beside her.

"You're kidding me." Colton said after he regained his composure.

"So that was the commotion this morning." Ruby looked at Yang. "You told me it was nothing."

Yang, for her part, wisely stared at the ceiling and started whistling tunelessly.

"Stop it, that's annoying." Blake hit her girlfriend and Yang stopped.

"Yes, I am serious." Sun responded, reclining back as far as his chair would allow.

"After all the work we put into taking her in the first place?" Krystal asked incredulously.

"Even worse than that, Team SEAL's sacrifice is now for much less."

"Hey!" Ruby hugged Weiss jealously. "Weiss was an important thing too."

"I realize that, but four people shouldn't die for one. I don't care how important that one may be. No offense Weiss."

"None taken," Weiss replied, then unwrapped Ruby from around her waist. "But I think my girlfriend took all of it for me."

"It was an insult." Ruby looked into the pale blue eyes of her most important individual.

"But it was a well placed insult, that was true in every way."

Yang nodded her head approvingly, adding another mental checkmark in her evaluation of Weiss.

"But back to the more important topic," Sun interrupted. "Lance informed me that they still have no clue as to how she got out, other than the obvious fact that she used her Semblance."

"But she had that aura hat on right?" Krystal asked.

"The Aura Sapping Helmet, yes."

"Then how did she use her Semblance?"

Sun shrugged his shoulders.

"I know no more than you on that subject."

"Well, she's on the loose, and we will probably be the ones to have to find her again." Blake spoke up.

"Bingo, and we have to be ready for anything. Now let's go learn about that aura." Sun stood up and threw away his trash, then started on his way to class.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Again, thanks for all of the support. It has been a long month and I am really excited to be able to release chapters again. A couple things I would like to mention: First, I released a one-shot chronicling the rest of the tournament that was shown in Chapters 13 and 14 of ASITD. If you have not seen that yet, you should go check it out. Second, my good friend and co-writer/editor Leviticus Wilkes is returning this week as well. He will be uploading Chapter 11 of The Second Step after a brief hiatus and I would appreciate it if you go give his channel a look. I have a lot of things in store for this story, (such as the Vytal Tournament), and I am glad that I am able to let my imagination be used for your enjoyment, or if you hate them, enjoyment in criticizing me. Thank you all again for your constant support and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	2. Chapter 2: Professor Kipmud

**Chapter 2: Professor Kipmud**

**In a worn-out shack, somewhere in downtown Vale.**

"Success." A voice called out as the door opened.

"What is it this time?" The reply came. "I don't like you stealing for us."

"This, and you know we wouldn't be living without me." The first held up the dust crystal in his hand.

He reached down and hugged the one sitting down.

"I love you mother. And you know I would do anything for you."

"I know, I love you too son." She hugged him back, planting a kiss on his cheek. "But don't do anything too reckless."

"I know." He perked up, he was always happy when his mother didn't argue with him. "Can I go see what Alex is up to?"

"I suppose, but don't do anything foolish." She rolled her eyes.

"I won't mother." He slipped out the door.

"Goodbye, my little moon." She whispered as he left.

* * *

**In a very bored classroom at Beacon.**

"Over the last few weeks we have discussed the usage of aura, but we never went into specifics."

Professor Kipmud was talking in the front of the class, and all the students were all listening attentively. Well, not exactly.

"Are we done yet?" Krystal whispered.

"Nope, it just started." Colton replied.

"Ugh." Krystal sank down further in her seat and sighed.

"Today we will be starting a new unit on specialized Semblance usage." Kipmud continued. "More specifically, how each of us uses our Semblance and how they vary greatly from person to person. Miss Nikos, would you care to show yours first?"

"Of course, sir." Pyrrha walked up and, winking at Jaune, used her Semblance to pull his metal pen to her hand.

"Very good, Miss Nikos. Now, that Semblance was Polarity, the ability to manipulate magnetic fields. You can have a seat. Miss Schnee, would you care to show us yours?"

Weiss walked up after a nod and sprang up into the air using her glyphs.

"Class, that Semblance was the usage of Glyphs. Miss Rain, care to give us some insight into yours?"

"You're coming down with me." Krystal pulled Colton down to the front and proceeded to lash out with a vicious kick in the back of his knee.

Colton fell to the ground and Krystal quickly knelt beside him. She raised her hand over the fracture she had made and a dark blue haze surrounded her. It rushed down her arm and into the fracture, immediately healing the bone and surrounding area.

"Thanks." Colton muttered as she helped him up and pulled him back to their seat.

"That was Recovery, the ability to heal people far faster than would be typically possible. Next?"

The demonstration continued, with Colton showing off his Infrared ability, Sun showing off Sensor, and many others showing off their respective talents.

"Well it seems that's everyone, would anyone like to know my Semblance?" Professor Kipmud asked, looking at every student in turn.

Out of the whole class, one kid nodded his head. Kipmud apparently found this number satisfactory, because he continued anyway.

"I have the ability to breathe underwater." He said proudly, puffing his chest out.

The room was suddenly ablaze with badly contained laughter, for this Semblance was one of the most common out there.

"Don't laugh, I won every underwater breathing competition as a child."

"I bet you did." Krystal muttered under her breath.

"Now, there are many various levels of Semblance. The first is Level One, mine is an example, meaning I am the first generation in my family to have a Semblance. Level Two would be something like Polarity. Miss Nikos is the second person in her family to have a Semblance, and I'm sure any siblings she may have have a similar Semblance as well. Level Three is where it starts to get crazy, like Miss Belladonna's Shadow. She is the third generation, so her Semblance is very well developed. The final level is Mister Wukong's Sensor, Level Four. He is the fourth generation in his family to have a Semblance, and it has apparently evolved into the state it is now."

"That's a lot of info." Colton said, writing furiously to keep up.

"Now, let's talk about siblings. Who has siblings that you know has a Semblance?"

Sun and Pyrrha, among others, raised their hands.

"Wonderful, do any of you know what their Semblance is?"

"My sister has the ability to manipulate clay, it's referred to as Keramos." Pyrrha spoke up.

"Very good. You see class, Pyrrha and her sister have similar Semblances. One can control metals and the other can control clay."

"Ugh. Wake me if anything important happens." Krystal said quietly as she leaned against Colton's shoulder.

Colton just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the professor.

"Does anybody else want to tell the class about your siblings?"

Kipmud's question was met with stony silence.

"Uhhhhhh, okay then. Let's move on. Our first topic is on Level One Semblances, like mine."

The soft sound of snoring began to emanate from the back of the room, and Kipmud paused for a second before continuing on.

"Level One Semblances are the most basic of all, but they are also the most special. Typically these are formed in the child of two people with large aura reserves."

"If they have large aura reserves, why don't they have a Semblance?" Yang asked.

"Good question, thank you so much for asking it."

"Oh you're very welcome." She muttered sarcastically.

"Semblances are a bit of a rarity… Or, they used to be. After the last large scale war with the Grimm, the people who survived tended to be the ones with Semblances."

Sun felt Aurora cringe beside him.

"Now we're in science class." Someone said.

"Son, science is everywhere. But that's not the point of this lecture. Natural selection plays a very important part of life, and that applies to battle as well. People with Semblances are able to use them to survive in a fight, and the ones without do not have that ability. This is why so many regular people died in the Grimm War, but people with Semblances lived to reproduce. This is why most of the people you see have a Semblance, especially students at Beacon."

Aurora buried her face in Sun's shoulder and began to cry silently.

"What if two people with two different levels of Semblance reproduce?" Blake asked.

"Another great question, thank you for asking. I- Can somebody wake Miss Rain up?"

Colton jabbed at Krystal and she woke up with a start.

"Whowhatwhenwherewhy?" Krystal clumped her words together and shook her head.

"Payback" Colton whispered.

"Thank you for rejoining us, Miss Rain. Now back to Blake's question. Two people with different levels of Semblance that reproduce form a slightly, ah, more complicated offspring."

"What does that mean?"

"The child has a fushion level of the two parents. Miss Hirosaki is a perfect example of this."

Aurora brought her face away from Sun and looked at Kipmud with tear-streaked eyes.

"I would guess that she is a fusion of a Level One and a Level Two, this would be classified as a Level Undemi."

"In English please?" Yang said.

"Essentially, one and a half."

"Ah."

"Yes, a fusion of a Level Two and a Three would be a Deuxdemi. A fusion of Levels Three and Four is a Troisdemi."

"What about a person without a Semblance and a person with one?" Pyrrha spoke up.

"The child is a bit of a special case. They typically have giant aura reserves and are therefore more likely to have a child with a Semblance. They are not referred to as anything different than regular humans, aside from the aura reserves of course."

"Is Level Four the highest?" Colton chimed in, briefly checking his notes.

"From what we know, yes. But there is always the possibility that we have seen a Level Five and have just classified it as a Four. Common belief among scientists is that the fifth generation has the same level as the fourth. Therefore, I believe Level Five Semblances are no more powerful than Level Four."

"Interesting." Colton added another page to his notes.

"But that doesn't prove anything, it is but a theory. Any more questions?"

There was a widespread shake of heads and Kipmud glanced at the clock.

"It appears that we will have to get to the topic of Level One tomorrow. Class dismissed."

* * *

"Ugh, that sucked." Krystal said as she walked out of the classroom hand in hand with Colton.

"Let's look on the bright side…" Colton started.

"There's no bright side!"

"Of course there is, it wasn't Port's class."

"Is that really better?"

"For one thing, this class is more interactive and interesting."

"Easy for you to say, you actually paid attention."

"I seem to recall you being very excited to show off your Semblance." Colton replied with a sarcastic smile.

"That was one thing I was interested in doing." Krystal smiled back.

"We should go back to the room, we have some time before Oobleck's class."

"Follow me." Krystal started off purposefully before turning around. "I know that you were about to say it was a different way than I started, so I have already changed directions."

"Actually, for once you started out in the right direction." Colton responded, rolling his eyes.

"Right, always trust your first instinct."

* * *

**Author's Note:  
****Oh the joy of creation. This chapter was especially fun for me to write because it allowed me to think up my own version of Semblances and aura. I understand that this was a bit of a boring chapter, but I thought it was necessary to touch on how Semblances and aura works in my RWBY SCARverse. I would like to mention again that Leviticus Wilkes, a good friend of mine, is returning from his hiatus today as well and I highly suggest you go check The Second Step out. Thank you all for reading and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	3. Chapter 3: Information

**Chapter 3: Information**

He was running again; it had become his life. He thought back to earlier that day: That weird girl, what was her name? Penny! He had run into her and she wouldn't let him leave. As he had the thought, he felt himself hit something.

"Oof" He said as he crashed to the ground in a puff of purple smoke.

"I have been waiting for you." A childlike voice whispered beside him.

As he turned to face the voice he caught another cloud of purple smoke in the face.

"Who are you?" He called out in fright.

"I am someone who is more powerful than you, but have taken favor on you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" He continued to whip his head back and forth, trying to get a good look at his assailent.

"You will help me do something that I have been trying to do for a long, long time." The mysterious voice replied, slowly moving away.

He found himself following it as if in a daze. He didn't know how long he walked, but he eventually came upon a group of warehouses. Some seemed destroyed, but a couple were still intact. The voice led him into one of the few still standing.

"This is where it all begins." The voice suddenly appeared behind him and he spun around.

The owner of this voice turned out to be a small girl in a black combat suit festooned with purple smoke grenades. She had a black and purple toboggan on and purple leggings showing from under the combat suit. He thought that she had gone for too much black and purple.

"Done looking?" The girl asked with a smile that looked more like a snarl.

He brought his eyes up to the very young face and replied.

"Who exactly are you?"

"My name… is Vayla. I have plans for you."

"Aren't you a little-?" He started, before feeling a sharp pain in the back of his leg.

"I will forget that you ever mentioned it." Vayla turned and slipped through the door leading into one of the warehouses.

He got up slowly and limped inside behind her. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next. There were three bloody and beaten objects hanging by chains from the roof. With a start he realized that the "objects" were human. As he watched, one of them turned its head and whispered something.

"Help." The man said before giving into the solace of unconsciousness.

* * *

"I CAN'T WAIT!" Ruby was running ahead of her girlfriend, apparently really excited to get to Combat Training.

"Why is that Ruby?" Weiss replied, having to speed up just to keep a conversation going.

"BECAUSE GOODWITCH IS ANNOUNCING WHAT YEAR AND TEAM SIZE THE TOURNAMENT IS GOING TO HAVE!"

Weiss pondered this for a second, before speeding up again to walk beside Ruby.

"I guess that is a big deal."

They entered the auditorium and saw every student in the school sitting in there.

"I hope those are our last arrivals, because we need to start soon." Goodwitch sighed, knowing full well that there were at least two people who would be after Ruby and Weiss.

The doors barged open a minute later and admitted Krystal and Colton into the auditorium.

"Right on time." Goodwitch muttered as the two took their seats and looked attentively at her. "All right class, as you know, the Vytal Festival is going on right now and the tournament is only a few days away. The team size has already been decided, and teams of four will compete. It is traditional that there is only one year competing. It is Vale's turn to draw a random year and Beacon was chosen to do it. Without further ado, let's begin."

Goodwitch reached down into the glass ball with all the slips of paper and moved them around.

"Why are there so many?" Krystal asked out loud.

"Some of them have the same writing." Colton whispered to her.

Goodwitch pulled out a slip and opened it.

"First year students."

The sound of complaints filled the room and drowned out the cheers of the teams that were competing.

"Congratulations, there will be a dance for all first year students tonight. You will register for the tournament tonight at the dance. Remember, only eight teams can register and it will be a first come, first serve situation, so tell me as early as possible." Goodwitch walked off the stage.

* * *

"I'm really glad we're competing this year." Aurora said.

"I agree, I think it's going to be interesting." Sun replied, opening the door to their room.

"I wonder who all will sign up."

"Let's see, us, RWBY, JNPR, BOLT. I'm sure there will be others."

"What about CRDL?"

"I'm sure they will sign up too."

They finally stepped into their room and were greeted by a sight of wreckage.

"I really wish Colton and Krystal would clean up after themselves." Aurora said, picking up a bedsheet that had been thrown across the room.

"So do I."

Aurora looked around the room a little longer and finally walked out with a huff. Sun followed her out and they made their way to the library. Sun walked to the desk and laid a book on the counter while Aurora wandered through the shelves aimlessly.

"Find anything?" Sun asked as he walked over.

"Nothing really." She replied, but then her eyes lit up and she hurried to a book that had caught her eye.

"Slow down, there's no ru-" Sun started, before seeing the book Aurora had picked up.

"'Thus Kindly I Scatter', looks interesting." She flipped through the pages and went towards the front.

"I remember that book."

"How so?"

"It was the first book I ever checked out in a library."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was that exact copy as well."

"Wow." She looked at the book in awe.

Aurora had come to look up to Sun, ever since he had comforted her that first day. They had become best friends, but Aurora thought something more.

"Sun?" She asked, rapidly trying to think of a way to tell him what she felt.

"Yes Aurora?"

"I just wanted to say, I-" Aurora was interrupted by the crash of the door opening.

"Yang, calm down." Blake whispered as she led her girlfriend towards the shelves.

"But I don't want to." Yang pouted.

Blake rolled her eyes and her gaze fell on Sun.

"Hello Sun. Hey Aurora." She said.

They both turned their gaze over and nodded, before moving to check out.

"Sun and Aurora are here? Where?" Yang asked.

"Over there, be quiet."

"They look like we came in the middle of something." Yang's perceptive eyes never missed anything, at least she had quieted enough for Sun and Aurora not to hear her.

"Maybe, just don't worry about it. There will be plenty of time at the dance tonight."

"I'm already looking at you."

Blake shot her a venomous look and grabbed a couple books before strolling to the counter.

"These two, please."

The librarian scanned them and handed them back.

"Enjoy!"

* * *

Sun was confused. Aurora had been about to tell him something, but she seemed to lose the courage to after Blake and Yang arrived. He had a feeling what she wanted to say, and he wished she would say it. There was the dance happening tonight, he would tell her what he felt then, he loved her.

Aurora was furious. She had been about to tell Sun the one thing she had been trying to tell him for a while. Blake and Yang had ruined everything, or had they? Aurora remembered what Goodwitch had said about the dance tonight. What time would be better to confess your love for somebody? Suddenly Aurora couldn't wait for tonight, it would be her night to shine.

* * *

"YOU SAID WE WOULD GO TO THE AMUSEMENT PARK!"

"I am aware that I said that."

"YOU PROMISED ME!"

"I know, but you do remember why we weren't able to go right?"

"NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN AMUSEMENT PARKS!"

"Do you remember when we saved Weiss, one week ago?"

"I NEV- wait, yes I do remember that."

"That was the reason we didn't go to the Amusement Park."

"Oh."

"But look on the bright side."

"There's always a bright side."

"The dance is tonight, and I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

* * *

"Wrong way again Krystal." Colton rolled his eyes and started off in the correct direction to their rooms.

"Life is a constant test, that's what I'm trying to prove to you." Krystal replied, catching up with him.

"What test are you trying to get me to beat?"

"I'm testing your ability to know when I'm going the wrong direction."

"It's not hard, I just have to see which direction you are going, then go in another one."

"You're no fun." Krystal pouted as they approached their door.

"That may be true, but at least I can get where I need to go without the help of someone else." Colton shot her a meaningful look and stepped inside.

The room was a disaster, but they both took it as a sign of previous happiness.

"Looks like we have some cleaning to do." Colton glanced at Krystal and picked up a pillow that had been slung across the room.

"I guess so." She replied, philosophically accepting her fate and picking up some sheets.

They finished quickly, leaving them with nothing to do for the next few hours before the dance. As soon as Goodwitch had mentioned the dance, they had both looked at each other and nodded, both excited at the prospect of going together.

"I'm bored." Krystal complained.

"We've been done for a total of seven seconds, and you're bored?"

"Yes."

"Well, do you want to go find something to do?"

"Sure."

They walked out the door and immediately ran into Ruby and Weiss, who were on their way to one of the numerous training rooms to spar against each other.

"Do you want to come along?" Ruby asked, seeming to bounce up and down with energy.

"I'm fine with it, you?" Colton asked Krystal.

"Let's go." She replied.

With that, the four started on their way together to train.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Another chapter in the books. ****In case you're confused as to how the Vytal Tournament works in my world, it's like this: Every tournament a year of students and a team size is selected to compete, this makes it so the schools don't know which years to focus on. If there is not a single year to focus on, they have to focus on all of them, making all students better in the process. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and if you did, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	4. Chapter 4: The Dance

**Chapter 4: The Dance**

He stared in awe at the gruesome sight before him. The three men looked like they had been tortured: They had blood all over them and their skin was shredded. He brought his gaze down to Vayla, who seemed unaffected by anything.

"What have you done?" He asked, still trying to comprehend how such a small girl could do something like this.

"I have gotten payback on the people who ruined my plan." She replied simply, briefly glancing up at the bodies.

"What could they have possibly done to deserve this? What plan are you talking about?"

Vayla studied his face and replied, seemingly finding him either trustworthy or easy to manipulate. "I kidnapped someone so that I could use them as bait for someone else. These people helped in the rescue of the person I kidnapped and the capture of me. I escaped and returned to find them already very injured, so I took the liberty of wounding them more and stringing them up."

The whole time she had been talking, he had been staring at her with an expression she could not place.

"Makes sense, but what plans do you have for me?"

"I intend to use you as a method of bringing a girl named Blake Belladonna here for me."

"Who is that?"

"Not important, but are you aware of the Vytal Festival that is going on right now?"

"Yes, of course."

"We will take her then."

"And why should I help you?"

"Because when we bring her to a specific location, we recieve ten thousand lien."

"Woah, that's a lot of money, how much will I recieve?"

"Three thousand, more if you are efficient."

He thought about it for a while. Three thousand lien could really help both him and his family. It was the thought of his mother's face when he got home with that kind of money that decided it for him.

"Deal."

* * *

"Here it is, Training Room Seven." Weiss said, looking around at the interactive environment.

"The lucky one." Krystal muttered.

"You ready?" Colton asked her.

"Of course."

"How do you want to play? Tournament or Freestyle?" Weiss asked.

"Just for fun, freestyle."

"Then let's go."

The only difference between Tournament and Freestyle was the amount of people that had to fall into the red before the match was called. In Tournament, you only had to get one while in Freestyle you had to get all.

The two walked together to one end of the field, while Ruby and Weiss took their position on the opposite.

"Are all fighters ready?" A robotic voice said over the loudspeakers.

"Good to go!" Ruby yelled in return.

"Initiating countdown. Three. Two. One. Begin."

Ruby leapt up into the air, catching her feet on one of Weiss' glyphs and propelling herself off towards Colton and Krystal. She was quickly met with a storm of arrows all around but she was able to dodge them and swing Crescent Rose at Krystal.

"Watch out!" Colton was able to yell just in time for Krystal to back-handspring out of the way.

She landed on her feet and nocked an explosive arrow while Ruby stopped in front of her. They had reached a bit of an impasse, and both were furiously thinking of a way out. It was Ruby who came up with a way to end it. She knew that Krystal did not have the ability to weather explosions like Aurora could, and Krystal would hit herself as well as her if she fired. Ruby decided to charge but was met immediately by Krystal kicking her in the face and backflipping as Colton smashed into her from behind.

"Wha?" She exclaimed, confused by the turn of events.

What Ruby had failed to see was that Colton had knocked Weiss down into red aura and had ran back towards her. As Krystal was flipping away, he had taken the opportunity to shove Ruby to the ground and leap back, giving Krystal the time and target necessary to shoot the explosive arrow without fear of hitting herself. Ruby was able to look up in time to be hit by the arrow and get pounded into the ground in the subsequent explosion.

"Good game." Colton said as he helped her out of the hole.

"Nice one, Crater Face." Weiss laughed as she staggered over. "The name really applies now."

The laughing students made their way back to their rooms to change, all of them thinking about the dance.

* * *

"You guys ready to go?" Sun asked, looking around at the rest of his team who were all splayed out on their beds.

"Yep!" Krystal leapt into the air and high-fived Colton as he stood up.

"Uh, yeah." Aurora nervously got up, casting a quick glance towards the mirror.

Sun raised an eyebrow and continued on.

"Well then, let's go enjoy ourselves. Aurora?" He held out his hand and she took it tentatively.

Colton and Krystal smiled knowingly the pair, having already guessed what was going on between the two.

"You coming?" Sun asked over his shoulder as he lead Aurora out of the room.

"On the move." Krystal said happily as she followed them out with Colton in tow.

* * *

Teams RWBY and JNPR walked down the hallway together, with each and every one of them growing more excited as the music started getting louder.

"I can't wait!" Ruby was bouncing off the walls in her excitement.

"For once I have to agree." Weiss replied, everyone noting a faster twinge to her step.

'Weiss excited to go to a dance with Ruby? Good.' Yang thought as she added another mental checkmark to her evaluation of Weiss.

"I still want to go to the Amusement Park, but this will still be fun!" Nora saw the doors leading into the auditorium and she sprinted forward to barge them open.

"Whoa!" Tyger, a member of Team BOLT, exclaimed as he was thrown across the room by the door he was about to go through.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha yelled after him, even though she had nothing to do with it.

The whole room took in the flying figure as he continued to sail across the room.

"He's still in the air!" Someone yelled as Tyger finally began the descent back to the ground.

He was a few inches from a painful landing when he felt an arrow pierce the sleeve of his shirt, sending him flying sideways. The combined momentum of gravity and the arrow provided a slightly less agonizing crash when he inevitably hit the ground. One thing the arrow did, however, was it made rolling difficult because it impaled itself in the ground.

"SKEET SKEET!" A voice came from behind Teams RWBY and JNPR.

Everyone in the room turned to look at the person who had "saved" Tyger. To nobody's surprise, the person strutting into the room was none other than Krystal of Team SCAR.

"All bow before your queen." She said with a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

The room started to rise in tension as some students didn't like the way Krystal was going about her success.

"A queen that, somehow, always figures out how to go the wrong way." Colton said as he turned his eyes skyward. "Just look at the time we got here, we would have been here a few minutes ago."

Krystal shot him an unamused look, but the tension in the room lessened and some friendly catcalls were issued at Krystal. She took them in stride and walked over to where Tyger was struggling with the arrow.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly as she carefully pulled the arrow out of the ground, making sure not to twist the head.

"It's fine." Tyger responded with a smile.

"You done flirting Krystal?" Lance called out with a grin as wide as an ocean.

Krystal just laughed and backflipped over Colton to land behind him.

"I don't need to flirt, I've already got an idiot to attend to." She replied as she hugged Colton.

'This is going to be a long night.' Colton thought before amending it. 'But I get to be with Krystal, which more than balances it out.'

* * *

The dance went by under the footsteps of the many party-goers. The music was constantly getting louder and louder and with it the people did the same. It was almost the end when the DJ announced that a special song was coming up. When the song came on, a slow one, everyone looked around for someone to dance with.

"No." Yang told the fifth guy to come up to her looking to dance.

He walked back dejectedly and Yang turned to Blake, who was clearly enjoying the amount of people getting turned down for her.

"Wanna dance kitty?" Yang asked as she held out her hand.

"Of course." Blake took it and they began on their way around the room.

They saw Colton and Krystal go by less-than-gracefully while Ruby and Weiss exhibited beautiful dance skills.

"Blake remind me to tease those two later." Yang muttered as they continued on.

Ren and Nora swooped past, with Nora looking more excited than usual. Their eyes eventually landed on Sun and Aurora, who were going slower than the rest.

"Aurora, I need to ask you something." Sun said, catching a glimpse of Blake and Yang listening in and rolling his eyes at them.

"Yes Sun?" Aurora replied with hopeful eyes.

"Have you ever cared about anyone?"

"Not really, I've been an outcast for my whole life."

"But do you feel better here? With the rest of your team?"

"Of course, I feel more secure with you guys. I feel like I'm actually important to someone other than me."

"Do you know why you sense that?" Sun asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"No, why?"

"Because you're very important to _me_." Sun leaned down slightly and kissed her on the lips.

They held it for a long moment but, like all other great things, were interrupted by a certain annoying blonde.

"I KNEW IT!" Yang leaped over and hugged them both before high-fiving Blake.

Sun smiled at her bravely with a hint of annoyance in his eyes while Aurora stared at the ground sheepishly.

"Thanks Yang, I always knew you would be there when I told her." Sun sarcastically said.

"Glad you know me well!" Yang replied.

"Let's go, I have something special for you." Blake pulled Yang away from the new couple and into a nearby closet.

"Always able to find one when you need them, unlike anything else." Yang muttered as she was pulled inside.

Sun watched the two disappear, then turned to Aurora.

"Want to dance?"

* * *

**Author's Note:  
This was a very difficult chapter to write for me. This is largely in part to the fact that I have never been "cool" enough to go to a dance like this, much less with any kind of girlfriend. Sigh, I guess writing doesn't pick up females like people said it would. Whatever, I'm now very off topic. I finally caved into peer pressure and wrote Sun and Aurora together, although I'm not sure anyone thought those two would go anywhere else. Also, the reveal of another member of Team BOLT. As much as you guys are probably starting to hate the OC's, we still have a few more to reveal in the near future so bare with me. Vytal Tournament coming up in the next few chapters so be prepared for my horrible fighting scenes to make another shockingly bad reappearance. Anyways, thanks for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Vytal Tournament Part 1

**Chapter 5: Vytal Tournament Part 1**

One o'clock AM. Darkness surrounds everything. The room is quiet. The occupants sleeping. A dark figure roams. The soft sound of a gun cocking is heard. All of these normal things that happen in the middle of every night. One of the occupants stirs. The dark figure stops moving. He looks around. The stirred person slowly drifts back into sleep. The dark figure moves to one bed at a time. The sound of a silenced weapon is heard multiple times. The dark figure creeps back out of the room. He is convinced that everyone inside is now dead. 94%.

"Not good enough." Vayla yelled down at her partner in crime.

Said partner took a deep breath and turned his attention back to the screen, intent on proving he had the ability to succeed.

One o'clock AM.

* * *

Bright sunshine streamed through the blinds of Team SCAR's room, uncovering the makeshift double beds that now filled the room. Krystal slowly rolled over, suddenly finding herself flat on the ground with the unhelpful smile of Colton glowing above her.

"You know, I really don't like you sometimes." She said as she scowled up at him.

"Nah, you love me too much." Colton replied with a glint in his eyes.

Krystal continued to scowl at him until he pulled her back up into a hug.

"Can you two lovebirds quiet down over there?" The muffled voice of Sun floated through to them.

"Speak for yourself." Colton called back, glancing over to see that Sun and Aurora were a tangled mess in the covers.  
"Shut up or your bed might become a pile of ash." Aurora mumbled through the blanket.

"I'm just saying we're not snaking around each other."

"That's it assholes." A detonator appeared above the covers and Aurora clicked it.

The room was silent for a moment, then Colton and Krystal burst out laughing.

"Way to go champ-"

The bed occupied by Colton and Krystal was suddenly ablaze with flames, with both of them looking for a way off.

"TAKE COVER!" Krystal screamed.

The fire was shooting up around the outsides and this left them with no avenue for escape. Only Aurora, with her knowledge of what she had used, knew that the flames could not actually injure or burn anything other than the synthetic material she had layered the bed with the previous night. The fire died down and left Colton and Krystal in a brief moment of shock. They looked at each other, then at Aurora, then back at each other.

"Holy crap." Krystal laid back on the bed, slowly trying to calm her nerves.

"What was that f-" Colton saw another detonator slowly ascend from the mess of covers and stopped himself.

"Do it and this time it'll be real fire." Aurora sat up and said in a matter-of-fact way.

Colton and Krystal were all too happy to shut up and go about on their morning business. The two quickly left to go see what the cooks were serving for breakfast.

"Nice one." Sun hugged her from behind and stood. "Good way to get the adrenaline pumping on such a big day."

"Thanks, those two needed it anyway."

"That they did, ready to go?" Sun had finished getting ready and he was waiting beside the door.

"Of course, let's go."

* * *

"THERE IT IS!" Nora ran ahead to the stage.

"Calm down Nora, the announcer won't start any sooner if you're there faster." Ren called, rolling his eyes.

"You know you're not convincing her, right?" Pyrrha said, smiling at him.

"Oh believe me, I know."

"Did the dance go well?"

"It went fine." Ren quickly searched his mind for a better topic to talk about.

Nora had been very excited when he had told her what he felt and she had quickly reciprocated, but he wasn't ready to share that with the rest of the team yet. Pyrrha, noting the slight discomfort Ren was exhibiting, let him off the hook and brought up another problem.

"Jaune, did you finish your training routine last night?" She asked, throwing a sideward glance at her partner and boyfriend.

"Ah, well, you know Pyrrha, there were a lot of workouts on that list." Jaune was careful to avoid eye contact.

"Jaune, I'm here to help, I hope you know that. These workouts are intended to make you stronger."

"I know, but there are just so many of them."

"Okay, but try your best today." She smiled at him and they turned their attention to the stage.

One of the tournament officials had stepped up to the microphone and was now consulting the notes in front of him.

"Welcome to the twelfth annual Vytal Tournament! This year we have thirty-two teams hailing from all of the four cities. Remember that these teams will be composed of four members each and the participants are all first years students. The tournament will have four rounds and a championship game. Each team will face off against other teams from the same city until they are the only one left from their city. There will be two games showcasing the teams in the Final Four and the winners of these will then fight each other in the championship game. We will be using Tournament style rules for this and there are four arenas that will be used for the battles. Round One will be played in an hour. Competing teams must be back here with fifteen minutes to spare so that we can direct you to the correct arena. There will be a fifteen minute break in between each battle. Does everybody understand?"

There were nods around the crowd, most had been to these before.

"Good, remember teams to be back fifteen minutes before the first battle. Enjoy the tournament!"

* * *

"He seemed friendly." Yang commented as the man finished up.

"I would tend to agree." Sun replied as he looked around at all of his friends around him.

Half of the Vale teams were represented around him: RWBY, JNPR, SCAR, and BOLT were all walking together towards the food court.

"He did have a smile on his face." Tyger of Team BOLT added, licking his lips in anticipation as the smell of food got to him.

"Smiles do tend to indicate friendliness." Colton smiled menacingly. "Unless it's that kind of smile."

Everybody laughed and found themselves faced with the hardest decision they would encounter all day: Which restaurant they wanted to eat at.  
"Let's put it to a vote." Sun said. "Anybody can nominate somewhere and anyone else can second the place. You can only vote once, so choose wisely."

"YOVO!" Krystal yelled before being quickly shut up by the horde of friendly insults that were immediately thrown her way.

"Anyways, does anybody want to nominate anywhere?"

"Hot Dog Queen." Blade suggested.

"I second." Jaune added.

"Any more takers?" Sun glanced over the crowd in front of him before moving on. "Any other place?"

The group went through a list of restaurants before Sun gave up.

"Alright, anarchy rules, eat anywhere you want. Make sure someone saves tables for everyone else."

Everyone quickly scattered and they returned to eat together. The teams had ten minutes to eat before they were needed back at the arena.

"If we had decided on anarchy earlier, we would have had more time to eat." Krystal grumbled.

"Not our fault you're a slow eater." Blake replied with a smile.

"But- Oh never mind." Krystal continued walking with a huff, trying to imbue as much anger as possible into her stride.

"Hey Colton, go help your girlfriend, I'm sure she needs a sanity transplant." Yang laughed at her joke as the group made it to the arena/stage.

"Welcome back, which teams are you?" The apparently friendly man asked the group as they approached.

"Uh, let's see. We have SCAR, BOLT, RWBY, and JNPR from Vale here." Sun replied as he looked around at his friends.

"Hmm, RWBY is up for the first game on this arena against Team APPL. The rest of you are later on this arena."

"Thanks." Sun called up before turning to wish his friends luck. "Each team for himself now, good luck everyone."

"Good luck, unless you're playing us, then I hope you lose!" Nora yelled.

Sun moved from where he stood and walked over to Team RWBY, who were already hyping themselves up with a team hug.

"Hey, good luck. Knock 'em out of the park." He said as they untangled themselves.

"Will do." Ruby replied with a grin.

"Of course." Weiss tossed her head.

"You too." Blake said quietly.

"We'll beat the living-" Yang started before being jabbed in the side by Blake. "I might need that rib you just bruised, you know."

"Nah, you're here as the cheerleader anyways." Blake reached up and kissed her before turning her attention back to checking over her weapon.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Uninspired chapter names for the win! So this is the start of the Vytal Tournament, or at least the beginning of them being there. The battles will start in the next chapter and will probably continue for a while. I will be switching to a weekly schedule after this chapter. I'm sorry about that but I need to focus on school more than writing. A new chapter will be released every Sunday including next Sunday. Again, sorry but it has to be done. Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	6. Chapter 6: Vytal Tournament Part 2

**Chapter 6: Vytal Tournament Part 2**

He crept forward, taking care to be silent. The rooftop was known to creak a lot if you didn't know what you were doing. The unstable beams could also collapse at any moment, but this didn't bother him. He moved quickly over the unsteady ground but slowed down as he made it to the edge of the roof. He stopped just before the point of showing himself and activated his Semblance. Anyone watching, and of which there were none, would have seen him disappear.

"Come in Alpha Two, can you read me?" Vayla came in over the headset he was wearing.

"Loud and clear, Secret Vayla." He replied in a slightly exasperated, but still very quiet, voice.

"Don't talk like that to me, know your place."

"I'm in position, why contact now?"

"There's been some interference for the past few minutes and this is the first possible second for me to."

"Whatever, I see her."

"Just wait, do not engage. All we want is information right now." "Copy."

He lowered the volume on the headset and adjusted his mic while waiting for the battle to commence. He wasn't interested in who won, but he wanted to see the way Blake fought. After all, the easiest way to beat an enemy is to know how they fight and detect weaknesses. He watched as his quarry took her place beside her teammates in the arena. A timer started counting down and he settled down to watch as it hit zero.

* * *

The battle turned out to be a romp, APPL never had a chance against RWBY. This became apparent as soon as APPL was introduced into the arena. They look distinctly nervous at the prospect of fighting one of Beacon's top first year teams. It became even more apparent when RWBY started the match with a blazing sphere of attacks on the opponents. The battle was over in the space of five seconds and RWBY walked out with huge smiles on their faces.

"That was easy." Yang commented, mildly annoyed that the fight had been so short.

"It was the first round, I'm sure we'll encounter some good teams later." Weiss said.

"I suppose so."

"I'm just excited we won!" Ruby exclaimed as they walked up to Sun.

"Great job." Sun clapped Ruby on the back and gestured for them to follow him.

"Where's everyone else?" Blake asked, looking around.

"They're getting ready to watch the battle between CELS and CPSL."

"Why is that specific battle so important?"

"Both teams are supposed to be really good, and they got unlucky enough to get paired in the first round."

"Sucks to be them." Yang laughed.

"You have no respect." Sun glanced sidelong at her with a frown.

"It increases our chances of winning if one of the big kahunas get taken out early."

"Nope." Blake interjected.

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Because we wouldn't have to fight either of them until the championship round." Weiss added.

"Oh."

"Exactly, but regardless of that, it'll still make for a very interesting round one fight." Sun said.

"Probably the only one." Yang thought back to the battle they had just competed in and shook her head in disgust.

Everyone agreed and the five of them continued the walk in companionable silence, aside from Yang's constant complaints about the distance between the arenas. As they approached the correct one, the cries of the crowd began to grow louder.

"Sounds like the people are really excited to see this one." Ruby said.

"Of course, Sun did say that it was an important battle." Weiss rolled her eyes at her sometimes incompetent girlfriend.

"Right." Ruby said with a small self-depreciating giggle.

They entered the stands and quickly saw the rest of their friends sitting in the reserved section.

"In what way are we important?" Yang wondered, looking at the seating arrangements.

"Those seats are for other competitors in the competition so they can watch battles without disturbance." Sun replied before catching sight of Krystal yelling down at the arena. "Unfortunately that doesn't include the teammates you have to sit beside."

Blake gave Yang another nudge and nodded meaningfully at Sun's statement. Yang frowned, before deciding that Blake didn't mean the jibe as anything but a joke.

Colton looked up as he heard the group approach.

"Hey." He said with a smile.

"Hey yourself, have they done anything yet?" Sun glanced anxiously at the arena.

"No, there was a delay and the competitors will be introduced here in a few minutes."

"Alright, any predictions on who will win?"

"CELK are the predicted winners, but anything can happen." Aurora answered as she was scanning the stands for other competitors. "By the way, when will any of us have to fight again?"

"HEAT and QUBE are up next for our arena, and each match is separated by a half hour. We won't have to fight for a while, but I think the next teams will be JNPR against BOLT."

"That'll be a good fight." Krystal said.

"That it will. Oh, I forgot to mention," Sun turned to RWBY. "You guys have to sit away from us, tournament rules."

"What?" Ruby asked, looking very confused.

"Teams can't sit by other teams while spectating, sorry."  
"It's fine." Blake quickly grabbed Yang and jerked her head towards Ruby as she dragged her indignant girlfriend away.

Weiss understood the hurried head motion and reached down for Ruby's hand. They followed Blake towards a section not taken up by anyone else and sat down.

"HOW DA-" Yang got no further, as Blake smothered the scream with a kiss.

"Shut up and enjoy the show."

* * *

"Announcing Carson, Penelope, Sector, and Levi of Team CPSL!" The announcer shouted as the team walked out onto the field to uproarious applause and support.

Carson wielded a large mace, Penelope a Spatha, Sector a multitude of glaives, and Levi had a large stick.

The announcer waited for the crowd to calm down before continuing. The problem with that was the crowd didn't want to shut up, so he decided to try to speak over them.

"And now announcing Chase, Ethan, Liz, and Seven of Team CELS." The crowd had died down while he was speaking and they now let themselves be heard as CELS walked out onto the opposite end of the arena.

Chase held two short submachine guns, Ethan had a sniper rifle, Liz held dual chakrams, and Seven wielded a sword.

The two teams took their places and prepared for the coming fight as the crowd continued to roar around them. The announcer said a few more things and then the timer began to count down. The noise quieted down as it continued to decrease in value until it was silent. Everyone was waiting in anticipation for the battle and every child that cried out was quickly and nicely told to shut up.

Three. Two. One. Zero.

Chase launched himself and his team in the air with a giant spout of water and Seven created vines to provide a zip line back down to the ground. The team landed in the middle of the arena, where CPSL had run to at the beginning of the match. Three of Team CELS descended out of the sky towards them and engaged in hand to hand combat, but there was one piece of the puzzle missing. While CPSL was the better of the two teams in close quarters combat, CELS had the advantage of Liz's Semblance. Liz was able to quickly asses the situation and come up with a way to counteract issues faster than most. Essentially, she was a tactical genius who had talented teammates that could capitalize on whatever advantage she gave them. This came in handy now as she stealthily moved her way through the boulders on her way to the center of the arena. She was the missing puzzle piece. While CPSL assumed that all four of CELS had gone up on that first spout of water, Liz had stayed grounded and hid behind a rock. The water and vines had been a ploy to distract CPSL from where a sneak attack would come from. Liz decided to trade a little stealth for speed and switched from crouching to lightly running towards CPSL. CELS had been giving ground to the point where all of Team CPSL had their back turned to the point Liz was approaching from. As Liz got within a few meters, Levi seemed to hear something and turned around to see what was behind his team. He shouted in surprise and his team rotated to face the new threat. As they were momentarily distracted, the rest of Team CELS charged forward and focused their attention on one person who had been slower to turn around before. That unlucky person happened to be Carson and his aura took the full brunt of the attack. His aura depleted to the red zone and the match was called.

* * *

"We have to fight them?" Jaune asked as everyone walked out.

"Only if we both get to the championship game." Pyrrha replied soothingly.

"And to do that, you have to beat us first." Blade said with a small smirk.

"That's right." Tyger agreed, puffing out his chest.

Pyrrha just rolled her eyes and cast a sidelong glance at Ren, who was walking hand in hand with Nora. Pyrrha raised her eyebrow as if to ask "You two ready?" and Ren nodded, he and Nora were both excited to be fighting.

"Shouldn't be too hard!" Nora said in her usual loud manner.

BOLT took the challenge with a smile and led the way back to Vale's assigned arena.

"We need some moving walkways here." Yang complained.

"No, what we need here is duct tape." Blake smiled and reached into her pack. "Luckily, I never leave home without it."

She pulled out a roll and peeled off a piece. Yang's eyes widened as Blake brought the tape closer to her mouth and started to back away. Blake shoved Yang mid step so that she was off balance and tumbled to the ground. Blake pounced and placed a corner of the tape on Yang before throwing it aside. Yang started to ask what that was about before Blake brought her lips to Yang's and into a deep kiss.

"Anything to keep you on your toes." Blake said as they both stood up.

Yang gave her a wry smile before noticing the faces of their friends around them. They were all either laughing or all too obviously trying not to laugh. She shook her head in disgust and started forward again.

"You guys might miss your fight if you don't stop gawking." She said, and the others hurried to follow her.

They made it to the arena and JNPR and BOLT split off to get ready for the battle. The rest made their way into the reserved portion of the stands and sat down.

"This should be good." Sun commented as he reclined in his seat, ready to see which of his friends would emerge victorious.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Hooray for more fight scenes that I suck at making! Anyways, this introduces Team CELS into the equation and I am happy to show them off. You might have noticed that I included myself in that team and that is because it is made up of me and three of my friends. Special thanks to Liz, Ethan, and Seven. Moving on, I'm not sure how many chapters the Vytal Tournament will take. Most of Night Fire will probably be taken up by it. If you haven't seen already, I am switching to a once-a-week schedule for uploading now. I'm really sorry but I need to put my priorities on school right now. I will upload every Sunday but I might switch back to a twice-a-week in the future. Thank you so much for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	7. Chapter 7: Vytal Tournament Part 3

**Chapter 7: Vytal Tournament Part 3  
**

"How did she do?" Vayla asked.

"She did fine, but I didn't get a very good picture of her fighting style." He replied.

"Why not?" Vayla edged forward in her seat and glared into his eyes.

"The battle took no more than a few seconds, _that's_why." His voice had an edge to it.

"So you're saying that you'll need more time to study her." Vayla rolled her eyes skyward and looked around.

They were in the regular warehouse, where the three remaining members of Team SEAL were still hanging from the ceiling. The place was mostly dark, but sunlight shone through the windows that were not covered. As she heard him start to take breath to reply, she brought her gaze back down to rest on his face.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." His voice continued to have an edge, and Vayla decided it was probably a good time to back off.

"Alright," She said in a conciliatory tone. "Just tell me when you will be ready."

"Will do." He said with a smirk.

He walked out, grabbing his crossbow and dull purple wide-brimmed hat as he did so.

* * *

"I don't know if I can do this." Jaune said dejectedly, looking down at his feet.

"Of course you can." Pyrrha laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"But what if I mess up?"

"Then don't worry about it, everyone messes up at some point in their life."

"Not you."

Pyrrha started in surprise. She hadn't been expecting him to bring the conversation around too her, but she now saw a good chance to drive home her point.

"That's not true, I've made many mistakes. Chief among them is my sister."

"What about her?" Jaune's voice betrayed the glimmer of hope he was beginning to feel.

"I did so many terrible things to her, and I was never there for her when she needed me."

Jaune looked at the red head beside him and moved forward to hug her.

"But this isn't about me," She continued. "This is about you, and how you can lead us to victory."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but the announcer just called the other team." Ren called as he grabbed Nora's hand.

"Right, let's dance." Pyrrha stood up and strode over to Ren and Nora with Jaune in tow.

The four walked out together as they heard the announcer call their name, and Pyrrha gave Jaune's hand one last squeeze of confidence.

* * *

"Announcing Blade, Omega, Lance, and Tyger of Team BOLT!" Colton heard the announcer yell over the microphone and he saw BOLT walk out and wave to the crowd.

"And now announcing Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren from Team JNPR!" Colton again watched as more of his friends walked to the side of the arena.

The two teams stood across from each other and waited for the clock to begin counting down. Said clock obliged and a number ten was projected onto the floor of the arena, which was quickly followed by a nine. Everyone in the stadium held their breath as they watched in anticipation while the numbers continued to decrease. The competitors tensed up and shot forward when the number hit zero. The teams met in the middle and each person found themselves fighting in a one on one scenario. Jaune and Lance hacked with their swords and Jaune blocked with his shield. Pyrrha and Omega were both finding out what it was like to go up against a good spearwoman. Blade and Ren were engaged in a classic knife fight, except where one person has the benefits of guns as well. While all this was happening, Tyger had been planning on how to defeat Nora and her rocket launcher/hammer. He decided the best way to do it was to not fight her at all but instead use his claws to help one of his teammates before she could actually do anything. He rushed over to the person he decided needed the most help. This person happened to be Blade. Ren was quickly fighting a very defensive battle against a man with two knives and a man with two claws. He called out to Nora to help him but in doing so took a hit from one of Blade's knives. Nora saw Ren in trouble and leaped high in the air. She used Magnhild to plummet back down to earth and saw Ren jump out of the way before she hit. She was a few meters away from hitting the ground when the announcer called an end to the battle. She adjusted her flight stance to hit the ground on her feet and took a quick look around at what had happened. Pyrrha was breathing hard and congratulating Omega. Ren was walking towards her. Jaune was on the ground with Lance reaching down to help him up. She checked her scroll and noted with disappointment that Jaune's aura had fallen into the red.

"Good job, I thought we had them." Ren said as he got to her.

They both looked to where Jaune was standing and walked over to him. They watched as Pyrrha got to him first and hugged him.

"You really held your own there." She whispered into his ear.

"But I still lost." He mumbled, looking down.

"That's not important, what is important is what's happening tonight in our hotel room." Pyrrha gave him a devious smile before turning away to walk out with everyone else.

"And what would that be?" He called out as he started to follow her.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Pyrrha threw over her shoulder.

* * *

"Good fight all around, both of you." Sun said, smiling at all of his friends.

"Yeah, but we lost." Jaune replied, voice still with a slight hint of unhappiness in it.

"You all did quite well out there." Blake chimed in, seeing that they weren't going to listen to one person.

"I'm absolutely starving, when do we eat?" Nora asked.

Sun glanced at his scroll and made a decision.

"We have roughly an hour before the match between us and CRDL starts, but we have to be back early."

"So we can go eat while you stay here." Nora was already skipping away happily.

"I guess so, but I wanna eat too." Krystal pouted as she watched everyone else follow Nora.

"We'll eat later, but for now, let's prepare." Sun turned his attention to the chart that he had laid out on the table.

The chart had a list of the weapons, Semblances, and fighting styles of all of the Vale teams competing in the tournament. As Sun scanned the chart, his eyes brushed over Blake's, Pyrrha's, and Omega's. He finally stopped on Team CRDL and he studied the multiple stats of the four bullies.

"If we fight them with this plan-"

* * *

Half an hour later they found themselves in the waiting room with a plan in mind. They all knew that CRDL liked to get up close and personal immediately so they could use their brute force to win the battle quickly. What SCAR had decided to do was simply attack from a distance using their many available resources. Krystal would have Toxid in Sniper Mode and lay down covering fire to give the rest of SCAR a chance to find rocks around the arena to hide behind. Then Aurora would distract them, giving Krystal a chance to find a rock of her own to hide behind. After they were set up, they would randomly pop out of cover and attack CRDL from long range. Then another would do the same thing as the first went back behind the rock and the process would continue. With any luck, CRDL would be angry every time somebody attacked them and they would constantly try to find where the last person had hit them from.

"Any questions about the plan?" Sun asked as he looked around at his teammates.

"Uh, what if they split up?" Colton asked.

"Then that makes everything easier, but I don't want to have to resort to that. I want to humiliate them by trying the plan first, but if that fails, then we can take them in one on one combat."

"Got it." The three others said.

"And in the event they decide to rush one spot regardless of other attacks?" Aurora asked.

"Then you and Krystal will launch a full scale long range attack, unless one of you is the one getting attacked. In that case, only the person who is free will attack. Any more questions?" Sun glanced at his scroll again and noted that the battle would begin soon.

"Nope." Krystal replied.

"Good, I wonder if everyone ate their food and got back in time." Sun smirked and led his team to the door to the arena.

"Let's do this." Aurora cocked Scandiv and they all listened closely for the announcer to call them out.

* * *

"Announcing Cardin, Russel, Dove, and Sky of Team CRDL!" The announcer shouted and the four bullies strutted onto the arena floor.

"Announcing Sun, Colton, Aurora, and Krystal of Team SCAR!" He continued and the crowd went wild as SCAR walked out onto the arena confidently.

The timer began counting down and Sun saw determination on his teammates' faces that mirrored his own. The timer struck zero and SCAR, minus Krystal, quickly made their way towards the rocks they had chosen earlier. Krystal brought Toxid up and started unloading rounds into CRDL, forcing them to take their attention off of the other three. They continued forward on a path towards Krystal before they were blown back by an explosion. Cardin looked around and saw Aurora showing herself from behind her rock. He led the charge there and was stopped by arrows this time. They turned and saw Krystal again firing on them, this time with her bow. This continued for a while as Sun and Colton started distracting them as well. The stands were ablaze with laughter and this spurred CRDL to make even worse decisions. They ended up huddled in the middle, using the two shields to protect them from oncoming projectiles. SCAR slowly moved forwards until eventually they were all positioned behind rocks bordering the small clearing CRDL had holed themselves up in. Sun nodded to Colton and watched as Colton charged headlong at the knot in the middle of the clearing. CRDL turned to face him and Sun advanced stealthily from behind them. Colton made it to the middle and dodged the mace swing Cardin had aimed at him. Colton jumped and used the shield as a springboard, backflipping through the air until he was a few meters away. CRDL moved forward slowly to intercept him but were bombarded by arrows on one side and explosive rounds on the other. All of these proved very distracting and Sun made it right behind the group of cowards. He looked over the shoulder of Dove and noted that Sky had the lowest aura left. Colton charged again and CRDL tensed up to receive the attack. Just as Colton made contact with another shield, Sun darted around Dove and swung his staff into Sky. Sky's aura went down into the red as he was thrown to the ground. The match was called and SCAR walked out victoriously. They only left a dejected and humiliated CRDL behind as they passed under the arch leading out.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Another chapter in the books. I should really stop writing about the Vytal Tournament, I'm just accentuating my weakness in fight scenes. Anyway, one of the things I find most annoying about this fandom is how much people love Jaune. They all seem to want to make him the hero. Well I have some good news for you, he is not good in this universe. I'm glad I got the chance to prove it in this chapter. It's fun to pick on him. At least I didn't make him bisexual like someone else I know. _*cough *cough Leviticus Wilkes_. All jokes aside, thank you for reading this chapter and if you enjoyed, don't forget to like, favorite, and subscribe. Chas1881**


	8. Chapter 8: Intermission

**Chapter 8: Intermission**

He activated his Semblance, for he was getting close to the arena. He crept forward slowly. While he might be invisible, he could still alert others by noise. He took great caution as he moved over the cobblestones like a wraith. He paused and looked around. A few random pedestrians, a competing team, and a huge group of people walking from the stadium. He quickly identified Blake in the group and set out to follow. A memory was trying to surface, but he held it back. He was sure he recognized someone else in the group, but he was not sure in the slightest. He dropped back a bit so he wouldn't be heard and contacted Vayla.

"Secret Vayla, come in."

"Read you, Alpha Two."

"Can you compile a list of everyone in the group of friends that Blake surrounds herself with?"

"I can, but- What's this?" Vayla asked as an image popped up on her screen.

"A picture of everyone here, I might know someone here."

"Why would you think that?"

"I just know, get me that list."

He cut the link and sped up to regain the distance he had lost. He had the sudden urge to go up and try to blend in with them, but he knew it would never work. He mentally berated himself for even thinking such a thing. He was an assassin, and not a very joyous one anymore. He remembered the years before he had met Vayla. He had been a very nice and happy boy then, but now everything had changed. First, his brother had abandoned him and his mother and left them to die. Then Vayla had appeared when he was weakest, as if she had been waiting forever. Now, he was just a grim and taciturn sixteen year old assassin.

"I've got the list, transferring it to your equipment now." Vayla came in over the radio.

"Copy, thanks."

He continued following for the moment but his attention was suddenly distracted by the list appearing on the screen that was attached to the back of his crossbow. He quickly scanned the list and stopped on one name. He glanced up to make sure he wasn't imagining things. He picked out the one that he had recognized and looked back at the screen. He knew that one, and he knew that he might have to make sure that he didn't bring harm to it. He started to feel the effects of his aura running low and he veered off into the trees, not noticed by anybody.

* * *

"I still can't believe we did that." Krystal exclaimed as they made it to their destination.

"I agree." Aurora replied with a slight smile.

Sun swiped the card and they all stepped into their hotel room for the night. It was very spacious and it had two double beds in the middle. There was a TV on the wall across from them and a minibar next to the doorway. As everyone piled in, they noted the very clean bathroom, complete with shower, bath, toilet, and two sinks. The room had the smell of fresh roses and the walls were colored to match the scent, a warm shade of lightish red.

"This is a place I could get used to." Colton immediately flopped down onto one of the beds and sighed happily.

"Make yourselves at home, we have this place for a few days." Sun smiled and quickly excused himself to the bathroom.

Aurora watched him leave and she turned her attention to the minibar. It had wine racks, beer taps, and a giant fridge complete with every kind of soft drink imaginable.

"Hey Sun!" She called.

"Yeah?" Came the reply from the bathroom.

"Can we drink the stuff in the fridge?"

"Sure! It's on the academy!"

Aurora, satisfied, turned her attention back to the numerous options available to her. She picked out a Mountain Dew Voltage and turned to everyone else.

"What kind of drinks do you guys want?"

"Beer!" Krystal yelled before bursting out laughing.

"I'll take a Mountain Dew Code Red." Sun called from the bathroom.

"Give me a Diet Coke." Colton said.

"No beer? Fine, give me a regular Coke. How do you drink Diet anyway?" Krystal asked Colton.

"I'm used to it." Colton replied as he caught the two Cokes and handed the regular to Krystal.

Aurora tossed Sun his Mountain Dew as he came out of the bathroom and they flopped down on their bed together. Sun picked up the TV remote and turned it on.

"Check ESsPeN, see if any of us made it." Colton suggested as he finally reclined back on the bed he shared with Krystal.

The four watched as highlights of the first round flashed up on screen in ten second intervals. With so many matches taking place, it was hard to dedicate much time to each. The only match that got more time was the CELS vs. CPSL fight, which got a good minute of screen time. At the end of the show, the updated tournament bracket was shown and the announcer started going down a list of matches for the next day.

"For the first side: RWBY vs. HEAT. BOLT vs. SCAR. RAIN vs. TANK. CYCL vs. FYLS. For the second side: RAGE vs. RPGS. KAPA vs. THTA. CELS vs. DARK. CASL vs. FAIL. Good luck to all of the teams competing in the second round. Thank you for watching, and good night."

Sun shut off the TV and glanced at the clock. It read 12:38 AM and he looked at Colton and Krystal, who were fast asleep in each other's arms. He turned off the light beside him and hugged the sleeping Aurora he had in his arms. He could faintly hear a ruckus coming from the direction of JNPR's room but he decided he didn't want to know what was going on. Even with the noise, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

* * *

Blake woke up the next morning to a weird sense of deja vu. Her vision consisted of one color: Yellow. She was trying to figure out where she had seen this situation before when the yellow blob moved slightly. Blake looked around Yang to see the clock, she fell back with a sigh as she realized she wouldn't be able to see over the mane of hair Yang had.

"Wake up." Blake whispered as she shook Yang's shoulder.

"But mom, it's Saturday. Just let me sleep." Yang mumbled back.

This stopped Blake cold as she tried to refrain from laughing.

"That is the most cliche thing to say in this situation." As Blake finished her sentence, she shoved Yang off the bed and quickly pounced.

Yang woke up to Blake's kiss gracing her lips and decided that today would be a good day.

"Good morning beautiful." She said with a smile.

"Good morning, today's a big day, you know." Blake replied, making no effort to lift herself off of Yang.

"How is it any different than yesterday?" Yang asked.

"Because I have something special planned if we beat HEAT." Blake pecked Yang again and finally rolled off.

Yang smiled as she thought about how much Blake had changed since the creation of RWBY. Blake had become more secure with her feelings and was generally more outgoing. Sure it was only with a few select people, but that still was more than before. Yang's pondering was interrupted as she realized that she had been staring at Blake for an extended time.

"Done looking?" Blake was smiling with her eyebrow raised to the moon.

"Uh, yeah." Yang quickly averted her eyes and hurried off to change into her battle gear.

Blake rolled her eyes and, still smiling, started to make breakfast for the rest of them in the kitchenette. She looked around the room and saw Weiss and Ruby snuggled up in their bed still.

'Gonna have to wake them up soon.' She thought. 'But I don't want to interrupt them.'

The issue resolved itself when Ruby's keen nose smelled the pancakes that were cooking on the skillet.

"Something smells good." She commented as she tried to rouse the sleeping bundle in her arms.

"Decided to make breakfast this morning for us." Blake replied as she poured more batter into the pan. "How did you two sleep?"

"Great." Weiss answered, rubbing her eyes.

"That's good, we'll need our rest for-" Blake was cut off by the loud sound of Yang slamming the bathroom door.

"That smell is amazing!" She rushed into the kitchenette and gave Blake a quick hug before grabbing one of the pancakes from the plate.

"You know what's better than the smell?" Blake moved closer to Yang as she asked the question.

"What?" Yang asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

"The taste." Blake leaned in for a passionate kiss and Yang responded enthusiastically.

"You guys done? We want to be able to grab a pancake." Weiss said with a grin on her face.

"Go ahead." Yang made an exaggerated gesture of moving away from the pancake plate.

"This will be a good day." Blake rolled her eyes and continued with the pancakes.

* * *

The four teams met up an hour later at the arena. RWBY looked determined and ready for the fight, BOLT and SCAR were chatting about their chances of beating each other, Nora and Ren were talking excitedly about something, and Pyrrha was constantly glancing over at Jaune. He still hadn't recovered from the fun they had had last night.

'The look on his face is priceless.' She thought with a smile.

Indeed, Jaune was pretty shaken up by the night he and Pyrrha had enjoyed. Just thinking about it brought a blush to his face, which was probably why Pyrrha was looking at him so much.

"You guys sure you're ready?" Sun asked Blake as they arrived at the arena.

"Of course!" Yang barged in and responded.

"We're fine." Blake smiled and gave Sun a hug.

RWBY walked off to the entrance for competitors, taking the complaints from Yang about Blake hugging Sun with them. Sun looked back at the remaining hunters and led them up into the stands to watch.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
So I know that the slightly repetitive nature of a lot of these chapters might be annoying to some of you. I understand that you probably don't want to read chapters that have two fights and maybe some words in between. That's why I made this chapter: To give you guys a slight break from all of the fights. Get ready for next week though, because I'm going back to fighting. I think the whole reason Monty decided to include the Vytal Tournament was so that I would struggle with writing new and non-boring fight scenes (which I'm not sure if I've succeeded in doing or not, leave a review on how I could be better with fight scenes). Anyways, thanks for watching and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	9. Chapter 9: Vytal Tournament Part 4

**Chapter 9: Vytal Tournament Part 4  
**

He looked up as he walked through the door to the warehouse. He looked around and saw Vayla standing in the back with someone else. He approached them and Vayla turned around as he got close.

"Hello again." She said.

"Who's the new guy?" He said with his usual directness.

"This, is Adam." Vayla gestured to the newcomer.

"Hello." Adam held out his hand for a handshake.

"Hi." He replied guardedly, ignoring the outstretched hand.

Vayla looked at the two boys and quickly continued.

"Adam is helping with my prisoners." She gestured to a large wall of circuitry in the back.

"In what way can those three be of use?" He eyed the chambers that each of the remaining members of Team SEAL inhabited.

"Brainwashing." Adam stepped up to the computer monitor and pushed a few icons.

Archer suddenly came alive and Adam said something into the microphone. Archer responded in turn and Adam put him back to sleep.

"As you can see," Adam said. "We can fully control all three of them and make them do whatever we want them to."

"This can be just what we need to get Blake." Vayla failed to notice the small start Adam emitted at the name.

"This is about Blake?" Adam asked.

"Of course, we need the money." He replied before deferring to Vayla.

"Have you not seen the bounty that's out for her? You're one of the White Fang's top agents." Vayla asked curiously.

"I've seen them, but I haven't wanted to act on them." Adam replied with a sigh.

"Why not?"

"Blake used to be a personal friend of mine, and I don't want any harm to come to her."  
"Well you might have to on this mission, remember your potential pay cut after this. So are you with us or not?"

Adam took a deep breath and let it out before answering. He let his gaze swing around to SEAL, Vayla, and the other guy, before resting on the determined face of Vayla again.

"Fine, let's do it."

* * *

"I hope this battle will be harder than the last one." Yang pulled a face as she remembered Team APPL's performance against them in the first round.

"I'm sure they will, dear." Blake mimicked the tone of a teacher berating a six year old.

"I'm sure they'll be tough, but we will come off as heroes." Ruby was bouncing up and down, getting ready for the battle ahead.

"I still think you should at least try to express some sort of tactical approach to this fight." Weiss said disapprovingly as she watched Ruby.

"The 'tactical approach', as you called it, is run at them and beat the living daylights out of them." Yang replied, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.

Weiss just rolled her eyes and checked the clock, noting that they had five minutes. Yang noted the lack of bossiness in her voice and imperceptibly nodded approvingly. Unbeknownst to all but Blake, Yang had been keeping a running check of Weiss to see if she was worthy of her sister. Yang was very pleased with how Weiss had been treating Ruby lately, so they had no reason to fight. But the first time Weiss slipped up majorly, Yang had promised herself that she could yell at Weiss all she wanted. But only then, and Weiss was slowly gaining the trust of the blonde.

"The announcer just checked his mic, we should get out there." Weiss stood up, still unaware of the close scrutiny she was being subjected to.

"Let's do this!" Ruby yelled.

* * *

"Announcing Hailey Shaze, Evan Nelson, Alyssa Vont, and Trevor Callice of Team HEAT!" The four walked out onto the arena wielding their weapons with ease.

Hailey had a chrome Desert Eagle, Evan a pair of samurai swords, Alyssa a scythe, and Trevor had a cannon strapped to his back, not unlike Predator. The crowd roared for them and they waved in acknowledgement.

"Announcing Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY!" The crowd went mental as the four colorful girls graced the arena.

Both teams took their places and the competitors crouched down into their battle stance, waiting for the timer to strike zero. The crowd helped by counting down along with the timer while growing louder and louder as it neared the start.

At zero, Ruby and Trevor started exchanging explosive rounds at each other, each intent on distracting the other from the rest of the fight. Weiss gave Ruby the advantage in the battle by using her glyph to send her into the air, giving Ruby the added benefit of a larger target than the silhouette of another person. Another advantage was that Trevor had a hard time of tilting the cannon on his back to the right position to fire into the sky. As Ruby flew up and over him, he tried to lean back to continue watching her and ended up on his back like a turtle. Through all of this, Blake and Yang had advanced together towards the rest of HEAT. Yang, seeing Trevor flailing about on the ground, used one of Blake's clones as a push-off point and used Ember Celica to blast herself in his direction. As she made it to him, she swung a punch that had the power to take his head off. Her fist hit the ground where he had been laying a moment before and sunk into a depression that had just appeared. She paused for a second to try to comprehend what had just happened and started trying to escape. That second cost her as Hailey shot her multiple times with her Deagle. Yang's aura decreased into the yellow and she finally used Ember Celica to shoot the ground, propelling her out and away. She was aided by the distracting sight of Ruby charging at Hailey. Ruby continued to deflect shots as she made her way over to Hailey, but she was stopped quickly by Alyssa and her scythe. Hailey let out a sigh of relief as she watched the two move away from her. This relief was dispelled when the cry for help from Evan reached her. She turned and saw Weiss and Blake whaling on him from all directions. She used her Semblance to create two fists out of the dirt and dust and used them to create a moving wall around Evan. She checked her scroll and saw that his aura was teetering on the brink of red.

'He'll be the problem, I have to protect him.' She thought.

She started towards him, not knowing that Evan would not be the one to lose the battle for them. In her haste to protect him, she failed to notice Yang sneaking up behind her. Yang aimed a punch at her and she went down. Hailey's aura fell to the red and the match was called in favor of Team RWBY.

* * *

"That was intense." Sun breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his four friends raising their hands high in victory.

"I'll say." Colton replied.

"It was crazy!" Krystal called from her snuggling position on Colton's lap.

Aurora rolled her eyes and followed the group as they met up with BOLT and JNPR and descended the stairs to meet up with RWBY. They met up a minute later at the entrance to the arena and exchanged stories about the battle.

"That team was hard." Ruby panted, still out of breath from fighting Alyssa. "I've never gone up against another scythe fighter before."

"You did well." Weiss gave her a quick hug and her face quickly blended in with Ruby's cloak.

Yang started laughing but got a jab in her side, brought to her by Blake.  
"Just remember what you fought for." Blake whispered.

"You?" Yang asked.

"I meant the tournament, but that's very nice of you." Blake replied sarcastically, but inside she was excited that Yang would think of her first.

The group set off for the food court, leaving a suspicious looking person behind them. The person began following them, making sure to not be caught. The person stuck with them all the way to the food court, where he watched as Sun tried to figure out where to eat.

"So does anybody have suggestions on where the group should eat?" Sun asked, already knowing the first thing that would be suggested.

"Anarchy Reigns!" Tyger yelled as he made a mad dash to the nearest restaurant.

"Go grab your food." Sun dejectedly sat down to save the tables and put his head in his hands.

Blake sidled up beside him and gave him a quick hug before going off to join Yang in the pursuit of food. He had been there five minutes and the tables were starting to fill up with his friends when somebody tapped his shoulder. He turned around and almost jumped out of his chair.

"Hello, mind if we sit with you guys?" Hailey of Team HEAT asked.

"Uh, not at all, find yourself a seat." Sun gestured at the many empty tables.

"Thanks, we're interested to see how you guys handle going up against BOLT." Evan said. "You know, after what you did to CRDL."

"We won't try to humiliate them, if that's what you're asking. I'm good friends with them."

"Still, it should prove fun to watch." Alyssa chimed in, before following Hailey over to an empty table.

Sun watched them take their seats and arrange food plans for them.

'Of course, they can organize an eating arrangement.' He thought bitterly.

"What's wrong with you?" Krystal asked as she sat down.

"Nothing, just anxious for the battle ahead." He replied with a false smile.

"All right, the other two should be here soon, they got caught up in a line."

The two waited in relative silence for the other two members to arrive and finally Aurora sat down with Colton.

"Aren't you eating?" She asked, looking concerned for him.

"What? Oh, right." Sun reacted like it was the first time he had realized he hadn't gotten food. "I'll get it now."

He stood up and escaped to the first restaurant he saw, leaving his friends confused as to what was troubling him.

"Did he seem off to you guys?" Aurora asked.

"You noticed it too?" Colton replied.

"Yeah, he seems sort of down." Krystal added with a frown.

"Any clue as to why?" Aurora glanced at Sun, who was silently advancing in the line.

"Anarchy?" Krystal suggested.

"No." Aurora fixed a glare on Krystal and she backed off. "It's something else."

"The battle ahead?" Colton added.

"He's never that bad before a battle. What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, what _is_ wrong with me? That's the question." Sun said sarcastically as he sat down at the table.

"We're concerned for you." Aurora reached out and took one of his hands.

"If you must know, it's because I think we're being watched."

"What?"

"I noticed it when Michael started talking in my head again. He hasn't been doing that very much lately and it immediately put me on edge. Do you see that guy over there?" Sun nodded his head almost imperceptibly in the direction of the man that had followed them from the arena.

Aurora had the good sense not to turn her head immediately to look at the man Sun had indicated. Instead, she used her eyes and scanned the crowd around her.

"I see him." She muttered.

"He's followed us for a while, yesterday too."

"Can we do anything about it?"

"Not yet, except for keep an eye on him."

"Well, we can't worry about it now, we have a battle soon."

"I agree, let's go get ready for it."

* * *

**Author's Note:  
I'm sure you all hate me for including so many original and new characters, but bare with me. Have no fear, there are some people that you will have the wonderful chance to forget in a few chapters. Anyways, I would like to thank all of you for sticking through most of the fight scenes. I only have a few left to write and for you to endure through. I realize that they are not my strong suit and I know that I dug myself into a hole when I decided to do the Vytal Tournament. Again, thanks for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881  
**


	10. Chapter 10: Vytal Tournament Part 5

**Chapter 10: Vytal Tournament Part 5**

Adam walked through the crowd with stealth, taking great care to not be recognized. He turned a corner and watched as Team SCAR made their way through the archway for competitors.

"Come in Mongy Wimp Foggler." Vayla's voice reached him through the earpiece.

"I read you Secret Vayla." He replied as he took cover in the bushes that surrounded the arena.

"Can you get into the crowd without being detected by any of Blake's friends?"

"I can try, can you get me an overhead picture so I can see where they are?"

"Give me a sec to get the drone in position."

Vayla muted her mic and Adam moved forwards through the greenery again. He broke into the open and quickly slipped onto the track, trying to look as discreet as possible.

"Sending the picture now." Vayla said as an image popped up on Adam's screen.

"Thanks." Adam scanned the picture and adjusted his path accordingly.

He would enter through section D, then make his way to an empty seat. This put him close enough to the other teams to easily follow them but far enough away for them not to notice him.

"Where did Alpha Two go?" He asked as he sat down.

"He's on a little errand that he decided he needed to go on, he will be back by the time we make our move." Vayla replied.

"Good. No injuries, right? Just like we promised."

"No injuries, enjoy the show."

* * *

"Announcing Sun Wukong, Colton Canius, Aurora Hirosaki, and Krystal Rain of Team SCAR!"

"And now announcing Blade Edge, Omega Aegea, Lance Vance, and Tyger Notyad of Team BOLT!"

The eight fighters walked out onto the arena floor and surveyed the area around them. The field still had all the boulders scattered around the map and each team was deciding whether to use them or not. Eventually the clock started the countdown and they got into their battle stances.

The clock struck zero and Sun and Colton rushed Team BOLT while Krystal hung back and shot arrows to slow BOLT down. Aurora ran to the middle and placed several claymores in a protective circle around her. This was quickly followed by another, smaller circle of C4 inside. She drew Scandiv and started helping Krystal with the long range fire.

BOLT split up and had Tyger and Blade rush Sun and Colton. The four engaged in a close range battle and Sun very quickly found out that he had the wrong weapon for the occasion. He switched to Gunchaku mode and continued the assault.

Meanwhile, Omega and Lance had run around the arena on opposite sides before cutting into the middle. Krystal had leaped into the protective circle of explosives with Aurora and they both started raining fire on them. Omega threw her spear just as Lance made it within range of the explosives and the blast sent the spear hurtling into the air. Krystal and Aurora flew straight up while Lance was sent flying backwards by the explosion. Lance's aura dropped into orange territory and he quickly hid behind a convenient rock.

Omega watched as Krystal and Aurora landed in front of her, both with their weapons trained on her. She looked up and saw her spear falling back towards the ground a few meters to the left of Aurora and Krystal. She maneuvered sideways slightly, causing Krystal to walk straight into the spear's path when she moved to circle as well. Omega made her move as soon as the spear struck and activated her Semblance around Aurora.

Suddenly, multiple ice shards appeared and started embedding themselves in Aurora. Omega ran forward and grabbed her spear from beside a dazed Krystal and went on the attack. She wore down their aura until they were both into the yellow before Aurora was able to stick a semtex to her. She retreated while trying to pull the explosive off, but this only succeeded in taking her away from the only was she could have dealt damage to an enemy. Krystal would have been thrown into the red if the explosive had been anywhere near her and Aurora knew she had taken a risk with it.

Unfortunately, Sun had chosen that exact time to jump back out of the way of one of Blade's knives. He and Colton had been steadily pushed back until they were only a few meters away from the middle, where the other three were fighting. Sun was caught in the subsequent explosion and his aura also depleted into the yellow. Colton watched as his three teammates, all with one hit left, were cornered by Omega and Blade. He looked back to Tyger in time to get knocked back far by Tyger's claw. As he was flying, he saw Lance hiding behind a rock.

Lance was watching his three teammates advance slowly on Sun, Krystal, and Aurora. Colton sprinted to him and started a swing with Amber, but Lance had brought his sword up just in time to block it. The two engaged in desperate combat as Lance's teammates began their attack on Colton's teammates. Lance was winded already and Colton had the advantage of two weapons versus Lance's one. This led to Colton finally gaining the other hand and knocking Lance to the ground. Colton raised Ember for the final blow and brought it down, taking Lance's aura into the red. Colton glanced over to his teammates and saw all of them on the ground with Omega poised above, ready to bring her spear down on one of them. He breathed a sigh of relief, he had won just in time.

* * *

The next morning, everyone rushed to the arena to see when the quarter final battles were taking place that day. As they walked up, the announcer started with the lineups.

"On Arena One, we will have RWBY vs. SCAR at twelve. On Arena Two, we will have TANK vs. CYCL at two. On Arena Three, we will have RPGS vs. THTA at two. On Arena Four, we will have CELS vs. FAIL at twelve."

"Alright, we got two hours before we fight. What should we do?" Sun asked.

"EAT!" A couple people yelled.

Sun sighed and started trudging his way to the food court.

"I don't think it matters what the others are doing." Aurora whispered as she walked up beside him.

"And why would that be?" Sun asked in a dejected voice.

"Because I have a surprise for you."

Sun raised his eyebrows but followed without resistance.

"Alright, watch out for anyone. We may have been followed." Aurora glanced around before sitting down on a tree stump.

"Is there a meaning for this?"

"I was planning on bringing you out here for some fresh air and a fun time, but…" She let the sentence hang as she detected a movement in the tree in front of her.

"What is it?" Sun whispered.

"I just saw movement in the tree behind you." She replied in the same quiet voice before switching to a louder one. "But yeah, I wanted to bring you out here so that we could have some time together."

Sun immediately caught on to what she was doing and responded in turn.

"Well that's very nice of you to think of that."

"I thought it was cool," Aurora called before changing voices again. "I want you to stand up and block his view of me."

"How?"

"Stand up and hug me, then I can maneuver you to the correct position."

Sun did so and Aurora, once satisfied that the intruder's view was blocked, pulled out Scandiv.

"Get ready for a big bang." She said as she pushed him out of the way and shot.

An explosion appeared right where Aurora had seen the movement and birds shot out of the trees at the sudden noise.

"Let's get him." Aurora sprinted forward and disappeared into the brush that hadn't been mutilated in the explosion.

Sun waited for a count of three before she returned with a very familiar looking figure.

"Anybody you know?" Aurora asked as she threw the man down on the ground.

"It's Archer." Sun bent down and rolled him onto his back so he could get a better look at Archer's face.

"Exactly, but how is he here?" Aurora took another brief glance around and she caught a blink of green light. "Wait here."

She moved to where she had seen it and saw it flash again. This time she was able to make out what the light was attached to, and she gasped. There was a pipe throwing out poisonous fumes in the direction of the clearing.

"Sun! Grab Archer, we're leaving!" Aurora yelled as she ran back to the clearing.

"What is it?" Sun asked, grabbing the unconscious Archer and turning to run with her.

"Poisonous gas." She replied shortly as they made it back to the arena area.

"That was close."

"I'll say." Aurora started to turn away when she heard Sun grunt behind her.

She quickly turned and saw Archer escaping with Sun on the ground gasping.

"Sun!" She knelt down beside him and helped him up.

"Did anybody get the license plate number of that truck?" A still dazed Sun asked.

Despite what had just happened, Aurora laughed and helped Sun to the food court.

"Will you be okay?" Aurora asked as she sat Sun down at one of the numerous tables scattered around the food court.

"I'll be fine, how long until the fight?" He asked breathlessly.

"We should be fine but… Wait, where is everyone?"

"Oh no, they've already gone to the arena."

"Let's get over there, _now_."

It took them less than a minute to run over to the arena, but they knew the announcer could call them any minute.

"Glad you could make it." Colton said wryly as Sun and Aurora walked into the prep room.  
"Vayla's here again." Sun said briefly as he sat down to catch his breath.

Colton and Krystal raised their eyebrows in shock but Aurora quickly cut off their questions.

"We don't have time to talk about it now, we have RWBY to beat."

"Alright, let's DO THIS!" Krystal yelled.

Aurora squeezed Sun's hand and they walked out as they heard the announcer call their names.

* * *

"Announcing Sun Wukong, Colton Canius, Aurora Hirosaki, and Krystal Rain of Team SCAR!"

As this was would determine the best team in Vale, each team had gotten their own video telling how they had gotten there. Team SCAR's played as they walked onto the field and took their positions.

"Announcing Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long of Team RWBY!" The announcer said as SCAR's video ended.

Again, the video played as the featured team took the field. Eventually it ended, and the timer began counting down.

"You sure you're okay?" Aurora whispered to Sun.

"I'm fine." He replied as the clock struck zero.

The arena had been changed for this round: Instead of a huge scattering of rocks, there were many five meters by five meters tilted platforms positioned on the ground and in the air. They all provided places to either jump off of or stick projectiles to. Krystal took advantage of this and shot an arrow trailing nylon rope at each of the four airborne platforms. The arrows stuck and each member of Team SCAR took a different rope and landed on their own platform.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY had decided to use the platforms as well. Weiss used her semblance to provide stepping stones leading up from the lower platforms towards the upper ones. Weiss and Blake both took these up while Yang used Ember Celica and Ruby used Crescent Rose. The end result of all this maneuvering was that each airborne platform had a member of each team fighting each other.

Blake and Colton were striking and parrying, Aurora and Yang were trading explosions, Weiss and Krystal were firing projectiles at each other, and Sun and Ruby were swinging their long, slightly unwieldy weapons in an attempt to knock the other off the platform. It seemed to be a dead heat for all players, none of them could land any decisive blows.

Suddenly, the platforms began to move around the arena and tilt at odd angles. All eight were forced to find ways to keep their footing and still avoid getting hit. The four platforms that had been scattered on the ground formed into a ten meter by ten meter square in the center of the arena, five meters above the ground. The remaining platforms, the ones with the competitors on them, started orbiting the center one and started randomly flipping upside down, forcing everyone to find their way back up onto the platforms.

One of these times, Weiss was not as quick getting up as Krystal and found herself staring right into an arrowhead while trying to pull herself up. Krystal smiled for a second before drawing back the arrow. Just as she was about to release, the platforms flipped again, sending her sprawling and giving Weiss her footing. Now it was Krystal who was struggling to get up while Weiss prepared for a final strike. But before she could, the moving platform interfered again as it smashed into the middle one. All of the competitors were forced onto the center platform as the smaller platforms tilted to a vertical position. The fight continued as the four individual battles continued around the platform before congregating in the middle.

Blake suddenly lashed out at Colton, back flipped over to Weiss, and lashed out at Krystal. Krystal was caught by surprise and was only saved by Sun using the long reach of his staff to deflect the hit, all the while keeping Ruby at bay. Colton was starting to stand up again but had to dodge out of the way as Yang split off from Aurora and aimed a punch at him. Colton ended up beside Krystal and took the chance to stand up while Krystal warded off enemies. Sun took a hit from Ruby and landed beside Colton and Krystal as well. He glanced behind where RWBY was looking at them triumphantly and saw Aurora pull out her C4 and drop below the platform.

Aurora had seen that they wouldn't win in a straight fight, so she had decided to think outside the box. She used a few semtexes to stick to the bottom of the platform and started placing C4 in a circle in the middle. She then dropped to the ground and planted claymores in the area around that circle, making sure they faced inwards. She walked a little ways away and used an explosive to propel herself back to the center platform. The scene that greeted her wasn't pretty: Sun, Colton, and Krystal were huddled in the middle trying to stave off the constant attacks from Team RWBY. As she watched, Blake and Yang rushed the middle and were only stopped by Krystal's arrows. She signaled to Sun and he led a charge against Ruby to get to her. They broke through and all four stood in a line. Team RWBY formed a clump in the middle, exactly where Aurora pulled out her detonator and hit it as she jumped back off the platform, with the rest of her team following a moment later. They landed away from the center platform and turned to watch the fireworks. Team RWBY fell with the exploded platform to the ground and quickly found themselves surrounded by claymores. They had one second to try to escape before they were encompassed in a huge explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Team RWBY was sprawled out on the ground while Team SCAR were standing a little ways away, winded, but still fine. Sun looked up to the board and saw the aura bars of RWBY fall to the red. He breathed a huge sigh of relief and grabbed Aurora's hand. They walked out hand in hand, with Colton and Krystal in a similar pose behind.

* * *

Blake stood up and looked around. Her vision was a blur, as she was still disoriented from the explosions. She saw a figure running to her and tried to take a step forward. She fell and lifted her head up to where the figure had been. She shook her head in confusion as she saw it disappear. This confusion proved to be her downfall as, while she was still slow, someone grabbed her arm and started pulling at her. She didn't even have the presence of mind to scream as she was dragged out of the arena.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Bit of larger chapter today, probably because of the two battles. I would like to talk about a few things before I continue. First, the support on Gray Ashes has been astounding, thank you so much for liking it. I'm sure my friend is annoyed about not putting it on his profile now *cough *cough. Second, and I forgot to talk about this when I first saw it, the opening titles for RWBY Volume 2. I am really excited for Volume 2 (Even though they made Sun's team different, which I guess I can't complain about.) I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that nothing that will happen in Season 2 exists in this story. Third, I will be at RTX this year, if any of you want to try to meet up, pm me on here. Lastly, Watch Dogs. And I know this has nothing to do with Fanfiction, but the game is great, especially on PS4. If any of you are wavering on the edge of getting it or not, I would suggest going through with it. Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	11. Chapter 11: Vytal Tournament Part 6

**Chapter 11: Vytal Tournament Part 6**

He dragged the now unconscious Blake through the streets of Vale. He looked around, trying to make out which building Vayla had said she would be in. It had all been easy: The infiltration, the kidnapping, and now the escape. There had been no one to challenge him, and Blake had put up no fight whatsoever. He guessed he had Aurora to thank for that, what with her game-winning explosion. She had rendered most of Team RWBY shell shocked and this had given him the chance to grab Blake. He was reflecting upon this when he decided he had wandered around long enough.

"Come in, Secret Vayla." He said as he unmuted his mic.

"I read you, Alpha Two." She replied.

"I have the package, where should I bring it?"

"Did you forget?"

"You never told me." He allowed a flare of annoyance to rise into his voice.

"Calm down, I'm sending you the location now."

"Thanks."

He looked as an image of the city popped up on his screen and he made his way towards the building that was highlighted. When he was only a few blocks away, Blake stirred and looked around groggily.

"Wha?" She asked as she looked around at the unfamiliar, blurry surroundings.

He looked down at her and decided to leave her be for the time being. Besides, Vayla would want to talk to her and that couldn't happen when she was unconscious. He rounded the corner and set his gaze on the new hideout. According to Vayla, the warehouse had been compromised long ago and she just hadn't had the chance to move out. Now though, she had decided to move to a large apartment complex near the river. She had already set up multiple escape routes around the complex. Most notably, a shining, new speedboat.

"Here's the package." He called as he walked through the door.

"Blake!" Adam cried as he rushed over to her. "Is she okay?"

"She appears to be." Vayla said as she walked in and bent down beside Adam.

"Blake?" Adam continued to try to get Blake's attention.

Vayla stood up and turned towards the man who had brought her here.

"Good work, your next job is to ensure that nobody interferes before the dropoff. Give us three days and we will be able to deliver the package to its final stop."

"Understood." And with that, he slipped quietly out of the room.

* * *

Yang looked around. The area around her was nothing more than a blurry mass of random objects. She blinked and her eyesight seemed to improve enough to see someone running towards her team. As she watched, the person disappeared and she looked around in confusion. Suddenly, she saw movement to her left and she turned to face it. Her head swam as she watched Blake get dragged out of the arena by nothing. Yang's conscience decided to disregard it as false and she fell back into a short sleep.

She was woken a few minutes later by Team SCAR, who had sheepishly returned to help Team RWBY. As she sat up, her brain returned to what she had seen earlier. Her head snapped up and looked around in alarm, no doubt scaring everyone around her with the sudden movement.

"Where's Blake?" She asked.

"We can't seem to find her, but we think we know where she might be." Sun replied unhappily.

"And where would that be?" Weiss walked over and helped Yang up.

"Well," Sun glanced around at his team before replying. "We think Vayla got her."

"WHAT?" Yang's voice came out as a screech. "How do you know this?"

"Me and Sun were attacked by Archer earlier today." Aurora cut in, sensing that Sun would flounder if he tried to respond.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Weiss' voice was calmer than Yang's, but not by much.

"We got here right before the match, and I assumed that we would have time afterwards to warn you guys. I guess not."

"Do we know where Blake is now?"

"Not exactly, but we could always check the warehouse she used last time." Sun suggested.

"There is no 'we' here." Ruby broke in with a slight grimace.

"What do you mean?" Krystal asked in bewilderment.

"You guys won't do anything except win this tournament for Vale."

"WHAT? Blake's our friend too!"

"But we will have three teams that we know can go after Blake, so you guys can win this tournament for us. You didn't beat us this late in the game to drop out now."

"Maybe four. And fine, we will win for you guys." Sun replied.

"Who would be the fourth? There's us, JNPR, and BOLT."

"Try HEAT, I think they might be interested in taking action with you guys."

"Alright, we'll go get everyone together and tell them the plans. We can head out in search tomorrow." Ruby turned to leave with Yang and Weiss following.

"One thing?" Sun asked.

"Yes?" Ruby turned slightly.

"If you see any members of SEAL, at least try to convert them back to this side."

"Fine, let's go." She nodded her head and walked out, with the remainder of Team RWBY following behind her.

* * *

"I'm worried about them." Krystal said as she climbed into bed that night.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Colton replied as he wrapped his arms around her.

Team RWBY had gathered the teams together and laid out the plans for the assault on the warehouse compound. SCAR had been there but they had had to leave early to get some sleep before their match tomorrow. For all they knew, RWBY, JNPR, BOLT, and HEAT were still down there, continuously changing the plan to fit all people's fighting styles and strengths. SCAR wouldn't get a chance to talk to any of them the next morning due to the fact that the teams were leaving early to scout the area. SCAR would be left to win the semifinals match with no support from their friends in the stands.

"Don't worry about them, do you guys want to check the highlights of today's matches?" Sun asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Sure, go for it." Colton sat up a bit more in his bed and turned towards the TV.

The television flashed to life and Sun switched to ESsPeN in time to see the highlights from their match. The program continued on, showing highlights from the TANK vs. CYCL, RPGS vs. THTA, and CELS vs. FAIL before moving on to talking about the next round.

"We have a good set of matches happening tomorrow," The announcer started. "Including the fight between TANK and SCAR, which is shaping up to be a very good match. These two teams are at the top of their game and I am excited to see how SCAR is going to use the environment in this one."

Sun and Colton exchanged glances and smirked before turning back to the TV.

"But the battle that everyone wants to see is the one between CELS and RPGS. I'm really interested to see what gameplan Liz of CELS can come up with."

Sun shut off the TV and turned off the light beside him before snuggling up into Aurora's sleeping form. He fell asleep to the faint voices of the other teams, who were still devising the plan long into the night.

* * *

"When's our battle again?" Krystal asked as Team SCAR walked out of the hotel.

"Three." Aurora replied with a glance at her watch.

"Well what are we going to do until then?"

"Hmm, I don't really know."

"When's the other match?" Sun turned to look at Aurora as he spoke.

"In thirty minutes, why?"

"We should see our potential competition if we win this fight."

"That's a good point, we could think up a way to counter anything they do." Colton added, nodding.

"Who's fighting again?" Krystal asked with a small frown.

"CELS and RPGS." Aurora consulted the tournament line-up for the second time in five minutes.

"Well, we have nothing else to do. Let's go!" Sun led the way to Arena Two, anxious to see the two teams go at it.

* * *

"Announcing Roach Sanderson, John Price, Ghost Riley, and Soap MacTavish of Team RPGS!"

"Announcing Chase Vizon, Ethan Schmuck, Liz Romanov, and Seven Wollemi of Team CELS!"

The two teams walked to their positions and took in their surroundings. Seven allowed a rare smile to her face as she saw the arena infested in plantlife. There were four massive trees positioned around the arena, with smaller plants scattered around and forming a floor. There were multiple footpaths weaving around the arena, providing ways for the competitors to navigate. Even a small pond was added, resting right in the middle of the arena.

Roach, Price, Ghost, and Soap all looked around impassively, taking notes of what they could use as cover. They all checked their weapons for the ninth time in the past four minutes and found them satisfactory. Roach held a UMP 45, Price an M1911 .45, Ghost an ACR, and Soap an M21. Overall, they were a very balanced team who knew how to use that to their advantage. They were a force to be reckoned with, and CELS had a strategy, courtesy of Liz, that counteracted RPGS best advantage, range.

As the timer started its countdown, from thirty this time to give the players a longer heads-up time, CELS took the opportunity to make sure their weapons hadn't changed for the worse in the five minutes since they last checked. Chase had his dual MP5k's, Ethan his sniper rifle, Liz her two chakrams, and Seven her ancient-looking green and black sword.

A siren sounded, signaling the start of the match. Seven used her Semblance to attach a vine to one of the massive trees and swung herself up. Her job was to make RPGS forget about her. Liz's favorite strategies were to make one person disappear and be forgotten about. While the rest of the team would be fighting, Seven would be setting up a network of other things that could be used as fallback plans. She attached vines to all of the trees and used them to get across.

Meanwhile, Liz, Chase, and Ethan were using the multiple trees and undergrowth as cover. Liz was quickly dashing from tree base to tree base, drawing the fire of RPGS, who were clustered in the typical fireteam formation. Ethan had manipulated the gravity in a small radius around him to send him skyward, also drawing attention. He landed in one of the giant trees but made sure to stay in RPGS' line of sight. Chase had dove into the pond and was using the currents to occasionally shoot him into the air so he could take shots.

Seven made her way to the tree nearest RPGS and began her descent down the side of the tree, taking care to stay where they couldn't see her. She watched as Soap hit a shot on Ethan and Ethan tumbled out of the sky. He quickly switched the gravity so that he was falling sideways towards RPGS, switching his shot to assault rifle mode as he did so. Ethan and Seven both approached RPGS at the same time from different sides, Ethan from the front and dodging bullets, Seven from the back, unseen so far. Chase rose out of the water with a splash and shot into the sky again. He landed right in front of Ethan, giving him a springboard to jump off of. Ethan, with the combined force of Chase quickly standing up, flew up and unloaded bullets into RPGS.

While all of this was happening, Liz had snuck through the undergrowth to a position that she knew the enemy would be before too long. She watched as Seven stealthily approached from behind and lash out twice at the person in the back, which happened to be Soap, the one least suited for CQC. Soap took a hit and his aura dropped drastically, falling well into the orange. He deflected the second strike with his M21, calling to Price as he did so. Price turned around and pistol-whipped Seven, sending her flying.

Momentarily distracted, RPGS was forced back by a sudden assault by Chase and Ethan. They slowly gave ground as they struggled to keep up with the bewildering movement of Chase's knives and Ethan's bullets. Chase called upon the power of the pond and shot the water around and into RPGS, forcing them back farther.

Liz waited as she saw RPGS grow closer and closer to her before leaping out of the plants and slashing her chakrams into Roach. At that exact time, Ethan had switched the gravity around them slightly and RPGS had momentarily floated into the air. While the time and distance was small, the effect was great. RPGS staggered when they hit the ground again and this gave Liz the chance to attack Roach and send his aura into the red, handing the victory to CELS.

The crowd cheered as CELS, now including Seven again, walked over to RPGS and shook hands. They then walked off the arena floor, leaving a still screaming crowd and a "slightly" dejected team behind.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Finally, I get the chance to develop a plot other than the Vytal Tournament. I have been planning these next few chapters for a while and I am eager to write them into action. There will be two more chapters after this one and then I will take a short break. After said short break, I will return with a few more chapters of this. I don't know how long the break will be or how many more chapters of Night Fire there are, but I can assure you that the break will be less than a month. Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


	12. Chapter 12: Vytal Tournament Part 7

**Chapter 12: Vytal Tournament Part 7**

He looked around the "abandoned" warehouse complex and smiled. The three brainwashed survivors of Team SEAL were posted around the complex, making sure nobody could get in. In the event of an assault on one, the other two could rush to help while he stayed back in the main warehouse. He knew that he only needed to stall for time, but he wanted to do more. What he planned to do was capture everyone who invaded the area.

He checked the trap again to make sure nothing had malfunctioned in the few minutes between checks. He could picture the assault now: The Beacon teams would infiltrate the compound through the paths of one of Team SEAL. They would probably defeat the first and only be delayed slightly by the second and third. They would then rush to the middle in an attempt to find Blake. They would see the decoy in a chair on the other side of the room and move forward to save it. His trap would then activate and daze all of them. He would have ample time to string them up and transport them back to the base. It would all be so simple.

His reminiscing was interrupted by the sound of gunfire from the west side. He knew that the enemy had arrived and he bunkered down to wait for them to reach the center.

* * *

"Announcing Sun Wukong, Colton Canius, Aurora Hirosaki, and Krystal Rain of Team SCAR!"

"Announcing Tyson Hallio, Alex Chernykh, Nico Sesh, and Key Blade of Team TANK!"

The two teams examined the arena floor as they walked out. The trees and undergrowth provided multiple ways to stealthily approach the enemy. The pond in the middle gave another hiding spot to both teams' repertoire.

The teams directed their gaze from the arena and towards the other players. Sun examined the weapons that the other team had: Tyson had a mace and chain, Alex had an AK-47, Nico had a stygian iron sword, and Key had, you guessed it, a keyblade.

The timer hit the magic number of zero and both teams made a break for the pond in the middle. This would turn out to be a rather boring fight, as each player picked another one out and continuously engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Krystal and Alex were exchanging long range ammunition, Key and Sun were exchanging hits on each other, Colton and Nico were dancing around each other, looking for any opening, and Aurora was throwing C4 at a charging Tyson.

The explosions that followed the C4 were starting to do damage to the arena, as some of the undergrowth had caught on fire. This quickly transformed into a full-scale forest fire, with everything burning. The competitors continued fighting, oblivious to the raging fire around them. It was only when Krystal backed up and stepped onto the fire that anyone took any notice of it. She screamed as her leg was suddenly engulfed in flames.

Her Semblance tried to kick in but the fire tore through flesh faster than it could heal. Colton finally scooped her up off the ground and hurled her into the air. Aurora shot a well-placed shot that propelled Krystal into the lake and into relative safety. SCAR took a second to appreciate their work before Sun caught a bullet to the leg. They turned as TANK slowly approached, knowing that they would lose in a three on four fight.

* * *

Ruby crawled forwards and gestured for Pyrrha to move with her.

"Use your scope and scout out the compound." Ruby whispered.

"On it." Pyrrha muttered back as she scanned the area.

She called out where she saw any enemy before handing the sniper to Ruby.

"So there are three patrolling outside, and an unknown amount inside." Ruby said.

"Correct, from what I saw." Pyrrha responded.

"If only we knew what was inside."

"Shame we left Colton behind."

"I agree."

"Ready?"

"Hell yeah."

Ruby led the way over the crest of the hill, making sure that nobody silhouetted themselves against the night sky. She halted the group right outside of the compound and pressed herself against the barbed wire fence.

"Alright, everybody remember the plan?" Ruby looked around at the teams behind her for an answer.

Heads were nodded and she gestured for Hailey to make her way to the front.

"You're up, ready?" Ruby asked as she drew near.

"Of course." She replied as the rest of Team HEAT followed behind her.

Their job was to distract the first guard they saw, and they proceeded forwards to do just that.

"Hey idiot!" Hailey yelled as she brought the earth into a shield in front of her and her team.

Archer turned at the insult and unleashed a burst of gunfire into the earthen shields Team HEAT had in front of them. HEAT advanced slowly and Hailey gesticulated for everyone else to move further into the warehouses.

"Go!" She screamed as she made it far enough to lash out with her pistol at Archer.

Ruby continued to lead the way as they made it closer and closer to the center warehouse. As they rounded a corner, they were ambushed by Sandman and Everett. BOLT split off to deal with them and RWBY and JNPR continued forwards into the main warehouse. They burst through the doors and found themselves facing one person, who had taken the seat of honor in the back of the room. As they watched, the seat rotated and they saw Blake taped to the chair.

"It's a trap!" Hailey screamed as she and BOLT sprinted through the door.

But the warning came too late as a giant flashbang went off, stunning everyone in the room and disrupting their aura.

"I can't see!" Yang screamed.

"WHAT?" Omega shouted.

"I said, I can't see!"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, I CAN'T SEE!"

"WHAT?"

They failed to notice a person standing on the railing above them, casually bringing his crossbow up to aim at Omega.

"I SAID- YOU KNOW WHAT? NEVER MIND!" Yang finally gave up as her patience snapped.

"WHA-?" Omega's scream was cut off mid-sentence as a crossbow bolt slammed into her.

Tyger's eyes cleared just enough to see his teammate fly across the arena, dead before she hit the ground.

"NO!" He screamed.

He stumbled towards her but got a prod from behind. As he turned towards it, he felt something smash into his head. Then the world went dark.

* * *

Krystal felt herself break the surface of the water and sink down into the water. She heard the sound of gunfire from above but took a second to heal her leg. The dark blue haze blended well with the water around her and she had to look closely to see it at all. Her tranquility was finally disturbed when she heard Colton scream out in pain. She heard it and propelled herself out of the water, intent on saving her boyfriend.

While Krystal had been recuperating in the lake, Sun, Aurora, and Colton were fighting a losing battle. Even the best of teams will be overpowered when outnumbered, and TANK was using their extra person to the fullest extent. There were only so many attacks that Sun could block and he was beginning to reach that limit. It would take a miracle to win the game now and, strangely enough, a miracle was what they got, but in a form none of them saw coming.

"Agh!" Colton cried out as a thrust from Key hit home.

Colton lost most of his aura in that single hit and he stumbled backwards in an attempt to prolong the game. Key advanced on him slowly, and Colton kept his backwards crawl going. He glanced at his two teammates and saw they were cornered by three TANK members. He knew this would be it and he raised Amber and Ember in an attempt to ward off the final blow.

There was a sudden eruption of water as Krystal flew out of it like a dolphin. She raised Toxid and shot four well-placed arrows in rapid succession at each TANK member. Then, while they were still distracted, she raced over to Key and drew back another arrow. Key turned to her and raised his keyblade to take her down, only to feel a force drive him to his knees.

"Never turn your back on your opponent." Colton lectured as he brought Amber down for the final blow.

Key's aura fell to the red and the crowd cheered. The finals now had the set teams, and everyone would be eager to watch it the next day. SCAR shook hands with TANK and then walked out of the arena to uproarious applause and support.

* * *

Pyrrha woke up to a tilted world. Everything seemed upside down. She had no idea how this had happened or even where she was. It was only after a few minutes of careful thought that it came to her. The attack on the warehouse complex, the subsequent flashbang, and her world turning to dark. Her eyes widened as she looked around and saw everyone strung up from the floor around her.

'That's strange, how are they hanging from the floor.' She thought.

She spent another few minutes contemplating this before she saw Vayla walk on the ceiling above her. She finally figured out she was hanging from the ceiling and she thrashed about in an attempt to break free. Vayla laughed a cold-hearted laugh and brought a remote into view.

Pyrrha felt herself being lowered until she was face to face with Vayla. The two looked at each other before Vayla pressed another button, bringing everyone else down to the ground as well. Pyrrha tried to activate her Semblance but found herself unable to. Vayla laughed again and pointed to the ceiling. Pyrrha looked up and saw a massive ASH set up above them. She brought her gaze back to Vayla and saw her walk across the floor towards Jaune. Pyrrha's eyes widened further as Vayla pulled out a .44 Magnum and pointed it at Jaune's head.

"NO!" She screamed in agony as Vayla started to pull the trigger.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Mwahaha, I just love killing characters. Or, I guess, just one so far. You never know what might happen in the next chapter. I should mention that I am going on a 3 week trip across the western United States on Thursday. My uploading may be a little erratic but I will try to upload every Wednesday and Sunday that I have internet access. I guarantee that I will miss at least two uploads and maybe more, and I apologize for that. Anyways, thank you so much for reading this chapter of Night Fire and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881**


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